"SB 1105"- Restaurant Smoking Ban

Earlier this year, I told the Senate Democratic Caucus that members who wanted to blog were welcome to come on NLS and keep us up to date on their interesting bills. Senator Ralph Northam, who represents parts of Norfolk and the Eastern Store in the Senate has taken us up on the offer. We are thrilled to have him here with this update on his bill to ban smoking in restaurants!

I hope everyone will contact their Delegates and Senators in support of this bill.

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SB 1105 – A BILL … relating to smoking in restaurants; civil penalties.

By Senator Ralph S. Northam

As I did last year, I am carrying a bill that would prohibit smoking most anywhere where food is served; a version of the Indoor Clean Air Act that most people call the “Restaurant Smoking Ban.” That is Senate Bill (SB) 1105, a good piece of legislation, which I think deserves to become law, and I am hopeful it will.

Although I am the patron of the bill, I am working with a broad coalition of supporters to ensure its passage. The language came from Governor Tim Kaine’s office, nonprofit groups like the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart and Lung Associations have launched massive public relations and grassroots advocacy campaigns, and many of my fellow doctors (I am a pediatric neurologist), have offered a great deal of support.

Last year, our coalition successfully passed the bill in the Senate, only to have it killed in a House of Delegates subcommittee with no recorded votes. For me and many others, that was frustrating, but it was also a learning opportunity.

There are a couple of good indicators that we might have better luck this year.

First, the Speaker of the House has ruled that all subcommittee votes will be recorded this year, so the bill cannot die without everyone knowing exactly who killed it. This will hopefully act as a deterrent to some who would prefer to have the bill “go away” but do not want to cast a vote against something that 75 percent of Virginians favor.

Second, and maybe partially because of the first reason, the new Chairman of the House Committee on General Laws (Republican Delegate Chris Jones) has stated publicly that he will let his full committee hear the bill. This will not only give supporters a bigger public forum, but it will also give more members of the House a chance to hear their arguments.

So far this year, the Restaurant Smoking Ban’s path has been slightly different than it was in 2008.

Here is the first in a series of columns on the path this bill is taking to become a law:

I filed the bill in early January.

After filing, the Senate Clerk refers bills to a committee or sub-committee, and in this case, a sub-committee.

Since there are several versions of the smoking ban bill, they were referred to a Special Subcommittee on Smoking, which conducted a public hearing on the bills. After hearing a number of impassioned pleas from waitresses, musicians, students, and cancer victims, the bill was reported out of that subcommittee on a 3-2 vote and sent up to the full Committee on Education and Health. The whole process added about an extra week, but it ended up where we needed it to be.

Once a bill passes a sub-committee, it heads to a committee.

Through a glitch, the 2009 version was referred to the Senate Committee on Local Government, whereas the 2008 bill had gone to the Committee on Education and Health. This caused a bit of concern at first, but the Chair of Local Government (Democratic Senator Louise Lucas) was amenable to re-refer the bill to Education and Health.

In Education and Health, I presented my bill again, and again it passed, this time on an 11-3 vote. That small victory meant that the full Senate would have to vote on the bill’s passage.

Once a committee approves a bill, the legislation is given to the full Senate for a vote.

SB 1105 had it’s first reading before the full Senate on Friday, Jan. 30 (the Constitution of Virginia requires each bill to be read three times before a final vote takes place), so by my count, the Senate will vote on the measure next Tuesday.

If the bill passes the Senate, it will go to the House of Delegates for the same process.

If the House then votes in favor of the bill, the governor will either sign the legislation into law or veto it.

Still, not every bill passes through state government so simply. Sometimes, the House will pass a different version of a bill in the Senate. In those cases, House and Senate members hold a conference to reconcile the differences.

Then the bill goes to the governor, who can sign it or exercise veto power.

It will be interesting to see how legislators treat this smoking ban bill. From a doctor’s standpoint, I’m hopeful our state officials will do the right thing.

Comments

This is a good first step by Senator Northam to use the blogs. I hope he will do updates as this bill moves along that are shorter and a little more bloggy- but a great first step!

[George Templeton]

And here's hoping this bill is defeated in the house again.
But like the previous poster I applaud Senator Northam for coming on here and updating on this bill. A lot of general assembly members would do well to follow his lead.

[VHDOA]

It's refreshing to see the sixth Senate district
represented by someone both thoughtful and independent minded.

[Rex Simmons]

I applaud Senator Northam for patroning this bill. According to the American Lung Association, no level of secondary smoke is safe. Contrary to opponent assertions, too few restaurants voluntarily ban smoking and instead subject their customers, children, and workers to dangerous levels of secondary tobacco smoke and its harmful carcinogens. I hope the General Assembly does what is right by passing SB 1105.

Thanks for publicizing this bill. Hopefully, enough Virginians who care about liberty and freedom of choice will speak up, get active, and defeat this effort to grow the nanny state.

I don't smoke, and refuse to eat in any restaurant that allows it. But who the hell am I -- or YOU -- to tell every other person that they must live by my preferences?

Anyone who supports this bill is a selfish SOB who cares about nothing but their own convenience, and demands that the rest of the world comply with their personal wishes.

Thanks for publicizing this bill. Hopefully, enough Virginians who care about liberty and freedom of choice will speak up, get active, and defeat this effort to grow the nanny state.

I don't smoke, and refuse to eat in any restaurant that allows it. But who the hell am I -- or YOU -- to tell every other person that they must live by my preferences?

Anyone who supports this bill is a selfish SOB who cares about nothing but their own convenience, and demands that the rest of the world comply with their personal wishes.

[Doug]

6:54 - I couldn't disagree more. This is an OSHA issue as much as a choice issue. You forget people have to work in these restaurants and be exposed to a cancer causing environment to get their work done. How many single mothers working a job that pays a living wage thanks to tips, but just barely, have to die for your liberty? I'm a social libertarian, but this issue is different for the reason that you are exposing workers who do not have the choice you espouse.

I plan to introduce a town ordenance for Blacksburg to do this same thing locally, based on the same reasoning.

[Recessionproof]

Did you really get fired Ben? Hope that stimulus bill hit soon.

[Rtwng Extrmst]

"According to the American Lung Association, no level of secondary smoke is safe. "

If this is true, then imagine how dangerous primary smoke is! Either ban smoking altogether for health reasons or get off the high horse! A very simple solution as I've posted before is to require restaurants to either allow smoking or not. None of this "smoking section" stuff. Restaurants should have to clearly post it if they allow smoking, otherwise, no-smoking. Pretty simple huh? Then people and employees will know and have the free choice whether or not to work or be a patron of the restaurant. I'm tired of this death by a thousand pin-prics to our freedoms!

[Not John]

8:18
Have we gotten to the point where people are told where they "have" to work?...

Some of the issues that are being delt with now are hard on my mental and physical health... I think someone else should pay for my house, and my car. Someone else should pay for my cable tv and my cell phone... if these thing do not happen I am not sure of my well being...

Please continue to support all government intervention in my life, because I do no know how to make simple decisions like where to work or where to go that is best for my well being. I need the government to tell me how much money I can earn before it is too much and where I should spend it.

[notlarrysabato]

RecessionProof- Not that I know of!

[Dave Albo Must Go]

This issue could permanently retire Dave Albo, however, this is must one of his many problems.

why don't they just tell people they can't smoke anywhere. That is where they want to be eventually just don't have balls enough to let it be known.

[Michael]

Every year this comes up and unfortunatley, eventually it is guaranteed to pass. This is a major battle in the war on choice and property owners' rights. By working in or entering an establishment that allows smoking, you are giving your implies consent to the envoromental hazards. The next step is going to be banning loud music in nightclubs and concerts because "everyone knows that loud music can damage your hearing, and employees working in these establishments have a right to have their hering protected."
This is a great opportunity to prove the Virginia is still the most business friendly state in the nation and that we are one of the few that still values freedom.

Fascism, plain and simple.

Doug, you'll need a better argument than a pathetic straw man about poor single moms who have no choice where to work.

Just admit that you hate the inconvenience of going into some restaurants and finding out that they allow smoking. You want other people to live according to how
YOU want them to. You're too damn lazy and selfish to simply go somewhere else.

[Not Jen Thomasina]

That retard!! Why's he trying to keep me from having one of the things I basically need to live? Next thing you know, he'll fight for the prohibition of alcohol!!!

[pizza palma home delivery]

I totally support the bill. Best of luck senator.

[Johnnyb]

By the same logic that Secondary smoke is bad, shouldn't you also include BBQ joints which burn wood to cook their food? Wood smoke is more dangerous than tobacco smoke and is produced in much greater volumes.

How about banning campfires, after all the boy scouts and summer camps expose children to wood smoke from campfires which far exceeds any exposure they would get from even the smokey-est bar room.

What ever happened to the uniquely American idea of Freedom to choose, which has been so intrensic in the freemarket? Why is it that we accept the steady encrochment of the nanny state into our daily lives? Junk Science and fearmongering are not going to stop at smoking, but they are going to keep going and going, until we wake up one day and realize that we are all Winston Smith.

1984 was a warning, NOT an instruction manual.

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