Put Smoking Laws in Local Voters' Hands

Fifteen years is too long.

by Don Schumaker

Fifteen years. Things happen. Across the country it’s been that way for clean indoor air laws, especially as they pertain to smoking. Except in Pennsylvania.

This Dec. 21, the commonwealth marked the 15th anniversary of the Clean Indoor Air Act but this is not something to celebrate. This is a milestone that Pennsylvanians need to make sure never makes it to sweet 16. In 1988, state representatives passed what was back then a law with some teeth, but given what is happening all over the U.S. and the world, it is now regarded by many as extremely weak. Our current Clean Indoor Air Act is designed to "protect the public health and to provide for the comfort of all parties by regulating and controlling smoking in certain public places and at public meetings and in certain workplaces." There are quite a few exceptions listed, including restaurants, the most public face of the battle against secondhand smoke now being waged by tobacco-control advocates. Here, restaurants with more than 75 seats that don’t voluntarily go smoke-free must have smoking and nonsmoking sections. Owners of establishments with fewer than 75 seats can make their own choice, but must post an explanatory sign.

Unfortunately, the law doesn’t stop there. With much lobbying pressure from the tobacco industry and other special interest groups, the legislators added a "preemption" section that wrestles control over clean indoor air laws away from local officials and cements it at the state level. Thus, no town or county can pass a tougher law even if elected officials and residents overwhelmingly approve.

The only exception to this pre-emption might be in Philadelphia because it is designated as the state’s only first-class city. However, if the city passed a smoke-free ordinance, its exemption would probably be tested in a lawsuit brought by the tobacco industry or like-minded industries. It’s thought that lawmakers added pre-emption because they were convinced they certainly didn’t need local governments creating different laws. It needed to be uniform, a level playing field. The tobacco industry has successfully used such arguments to lobby for pre-emption in several other states. Most advocates agree a tough statewide law would be fine. But since 1988, there has been no movement in any direction. Outside our boundaries, smoke-free rules and regulations are piling up. There are six states -- California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts and New York -- with 100-percent smoke-free workplace laws. Several other states have smoke-free laws that cover workplaces with just a few exceptions. In addition, there are almost 2,000 municipalities with some form of smoke-free ordinance. The list grows weekly as more local officials recognize the health benefits of smoke-free workplaces. Even cities in tobacco-growing Kentucky are considering ordinances.

It could be argued that we might not have "officially" known it in 1988, but now we really do know that breathing secondhand smoke isn’t healthy. This year also marks the 10-year anniversary of the EPA’s announcement that secondhand smoke causes cancer. We also know it contributes to heart disease and other ailments. Those findings have been affirmed by numerous scientific and governmental organizations. More than 54,000 Americans die each year from exposure to secondhand smoke. It is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. and in Pennsylvania. (Smoking itself is by far No. 1 on those lists.) In our state, it is estimated that 1,770 to 3,140 adults, children and babies die annually from exposure to someone else’s smoke.

The Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco (PACT) recently released results of its statewide poll of registered voters and it’s clear that if the state won’t pass tougher clean indoor air laws, then Pennsylvanians want local governments to be able to do it. By a margin of 61 percent to 34 percent, voters favor giving local communities the option of passing their own laws to restrict smoking in enclosed public places even if those laws are stronger than the state law.

It's time to give local governments the power to pass strong smoke-free ordinances. Removing pre-emption is the right thing to do for the health of all Pennsylvanians.

Don Schumaker is a project director for PACT. If you would like to respond to this Slant or have one of your own (800 words), contact Howard Altman, City Paper editor in chief, 123 Chestnut St., third floor, Phila., PA, 19106 or e-mail altman@citypaper.net.