http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06187/703702-114.stm
The Allegheny County Board of Health wants to ban smoking in all public places.
It has devised a two-pronged approach to reach that goal. It will:
Lobby legislators for a statewide ban.
Come up with a county ban, perhaps by the board’s November meeting, if the state can’t be persuaded to act quickly.
“The board uniformly agrees that secondhand smoke is a major health risk for people and that something needs to be done from a health perspective to reduce that risk,” Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dixon said yesterday.
A report issued last week by the U.S. surgeon general about the dangers of secondhand smoke exposure, new tobacco-free regulations in Philadelphia and Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association’s recent about-face in support of a uniform ban underscore the significance of the issue, the board said.
Although the members would prefer statewide action, they’re prepared “to move forward independently if they can’t convince the Legislature to do something,” Dr. Dixon said.
Still, the board’s vote yesterday was not unanimous. All four health professionals on the board and environmental attorney Paul King supported it.
Board member and county Manager Jim Flynn, who along with Al Ahmed opposed it, and the Rev. Ricky Burgess, who abstained, contended that pushing state legislators to enact a ban is more likely to succeed than crafting a local regulation.
A county ban could be on shaky legal ground because of a clause in the Clean Indoor Air Act that would pre-empt local ordinances, they said.
“I wanted to make the going after the state representatives the primary emphasis,” Mr. Burgess said after the meeting. “We can always later determine the legality of a local ordinance, but I think the statewide pressure can happen almost immediately and have significant impact.”
When he said as much during the board’s discussion, Dr. Lee Harrison, who put forward the motion, countered by saying, “We should have a dual-track approach, period. To say one is more important than the other is actually irrelevant because we can do both at the same time.”
Local action could put more pressure on state government, especially if multiple municipalities pursue bans simultaneously, Dr. Harrison noted.
Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz, who sits on the city council of Reading, Berks County, has been spearheading an effort to enact a local smoking ban. The city’s health department is expected within a month to draft a resolution that she will introduce to a council committee.
An ordinance proposal could be on the table by the end of the summer, she said. The city’s solicitor would then review it with the preemption clause in mind and advise the council whether they can proceed.
The councilwoman said she feels tempted to push forward with local legislation regardless of pre-emption concerns just to see what happens.
“Would anyone really bother to challenge the pre-emption?” Ms. Goodman-Hinnershitz said. “I’ve been encouraging other city councils in various municipalities to start at least moving something forward because that then brings to the forefront the problem with the state law.”
Philadelphia is exempt from the pre-emption clause, and Pittsburgh would be, too. Mayor Bob O’Connor has said that he supports a statewide or regional policy because a citywide ban could give restaurant and tavern owners in the rest of the county an unfair advantage.
Harrisburg’s effort to ban smoking in city workplaces could be the “test case” that clears up some of the confusion about the pre-emption clause, said Cindy Thomas, executive director of TobaccoFree Allegheny, a nonprofit organization supported by the Allegheny County Health Department.
“It’s a start,” she said of the health board’s plan.
Despite its debate, there was “no contention on the fact that we need a ban on smoking in public places,” Dr. Harrison said. “But how to proceed is definitely in question.”
Advocacy organization SmokeFree Pennsylvania petitioned county council to vote on an ordinance it proposed that would ban smoking in workplaces. Last week, County Council Chief Clerk John Mascio deemed the petition insufficient because County Solicitor Michael Wojcik said the proposal would be preempted by the state Clean Indoor Air Act, said SmokeFree’s executive director Bill Godshall.
But the solicitor’s approval is not needed for an agenda initiative petition, and the organization will appeal the decision, he said.
County officials “have misused, abused their authority by having veto power before the council can consider anything,” Mr. Godshall said. In other business, the health board deferred until its September meeting discussion and vote on a regulation to guide needle exchange programs. Concerns about preserving anonymity and disease reporting need to be further addressed.
This would be great. I would love to be able to go out to a bar/club and not come back smelling like an ashtray. Smokers are weaksauce. It makes me sick.
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