 Health Policy Tracking Service - Issue Brief Summary
Dated 9/23/2003
Public Place Smoking
Public place smoking policy is the regulation of a person's use of tobacco in a public place. A substantial degree of variation exists within this policy area and much of this variation is due to the definitions in clean indoor air regulations. Proponents of public place smoking restrictions assert that the negative health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke warrant state action to protect nonsmokers. Further, proponents contend that restricting smoking positively affects the public health. For instance, advocates in Delaware conducted and released a study indicating a 95 percent reduction in carcinogen levels in bars, casinos and restaurants as a result of the smoking restrictions enacted in 2002.
Those opposed to public place smoking regulations argue that these statutes and regulations infringe on the rights and social behavior of people who use tobacco products. Opponents of state regulation also argue that regulation interferes with issues that should be left to business owners and the workings of the marketplace. Further, casino owners and restaurant associations argue that these instances of governmental interference have decreased revenue at these establishments.
Prior to 2003, few states enacted comprehensive restrictions on public place smoking. State statutes generally prohibited smoking in places that primarily cater to minors, such as schools and childcare facilities. State statutes restrict smoking in restaurants and stipulate requirements for designated smoking sections. In prior legislative sessions, the California Legislature and the Delaware General Assembly enacted strict prohibitions on smoking in most indoor areas. Additionally, Florida voters in 2002 approved a constitutional amendment to the Clean Indoor Air Act that bans smoking in most indoor areas.
Public place smoking is an area of legislative interest and activity in the 2003 legislative sessions. As of October 1, 41 states have introduced bills pertaining to public place smoking, including 20 bills from Connecticut. While a large number of state legislatures introduced legislation, the passage of public place smoking regulations has not been automatic. Throughout the 2003 legislative session, the Florida Legislature struggled to implement the voter-approved constitutional amendment and efforts to enact the amendment ultimately stretched into a special legislative session. Although lawmakers expressed lingering concerns, the Florida Legislature agreed on a bill to implement the voter-approved constitutional amendment. House Bill 63a creates smoke-free areas in workplaces and restaurants. Members of the Legislature indicated that they would revisit the smoking ban in the future.
Legislation to amend existing regulations has been introduced. Currently, Vermont's 1993 smokefree air law exempts establishments with cabaret licenses from smoking restrictions. Senate Bill 35 would repeal the exemption for cabarets. Delaware Representative Robert Quillen introduced House Bill 15 to establish exemptions in the 2002 Clean Indoor Air Act. These exemptions include permitting smoking in up to 50 percent of a casino's floor space and in bars limited to adults over the age of 21. However, the Senate defeated the bill in April.
The New York Legislature enacted Senate Bill 3292 to prohibit smoking in virtually all indoor workplaces. It extends smoking prohibitions to outdoor seating areas of bars where the service of food is only incidental to the consumption of beverages. Further, it prohibits smoking in public mass transit vehicles and in waiting areas in mass transit terminals. The bill provides exemptions only for cigar bars, residential health care facilities that provide separate enclosed rooms, and enclosed rooms in bars, restaurants and convention centers used for promoting and sampling tobacco products.
In early September 2003, the New York State Department of Health issued a memo detailing the procedure for government officials to issue waivers to bar and restaurant owners. The memo states that the law grants county health officials-or state officials in counties without a health department-the authority to determine which establishments obtain waivers. The waivers exempt businesses from the requirements of the public place smoking law that went into effect in July 2003 and apply only to businesses that have lost business due to the ban. This waiver provision added another element to the debate concerning the legal, economic and political ramifications of the state's public place smoking prohibitions. The on-going debate over the law's provisions provides an illustration of the fluidity of public place smoking bans. Clearly, debate does not cease upon the enactment of legislation.
Please contact Andrew McKinley (andrew.mckinley@ncsl.org) for more information on this issue.
Additional information on this issue can be found in the biweekly Snapshots and quarterly Issue Briefs published by NCSL's Health Policy Tracking Service (HPTS). HPTS services and publications are available to state legislators and their staff at www.hpts.org. Please contact Laura.Miller@ncsl.org if you have forgotten your state legislature's username and password.
The Health Policy Tracking Service, a program of the National Conference of State Legislatures, systematically collects, tracks, analyzes and publishes information on the actions of state legislatures affecting health policy, and provides value-added services including research support and e-mail alerts. HPTS maintains a password-protected web site with access to over 300 health policy topics-categorized under Behavioral Health, Health Insurance, Medicaid, Pharmaceuticals, Providers and Tobacco-available to legislators and their staff, or by subscription to others. HPTS also produces special reports and annual publications that are available as individual purchases. For more information contact us at info@hpts.org or 202.624.3567.
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