Texas House Gives Smoking Ban Early OK
The Texas House tentatively approved a statewide ban on smoking in public places tonight, adding the measure onto another bill that must pass in order to make the two-year state budget balance.
The measure, by state Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Lake Dallas, would prohibit smoking in places like restaurants and bars. Lawmakers have tried for the last several sessions to pass such a ban. If it passes, Texas would be the first Southern state to adopt a comprehensive statewide smoke-free law, a measure expected to save an estimated $31 million in state Medicaid costs over the next biennium, according to the ...
Comments (19)
Darrel Mulloy via Texas Tribune on Facebook
How is it a statewide ban on smoking can be attached to another bill and pass, while an attachment to a bill that would allow campus carry was not allowed?
Jenny Carter Aghamalian via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Congrats to Rep. Crownover on passing this important public health measure + saving millions in tax payer dollars!
truthseeker
It may be that an amendment has to be related to the bill. The ban on smoking had a financial savings attached. Haven't read the campus carry, but perhaps it doesn't.
Donna Mitchell MacKinney via Texas Tribune on Facebook
While I'm personally in favor of cigarettes disappearing from the face of the earth, I find it more than a little ironic that the crew who constantly carry on about intrusive government are making laws like this and requiring sonograms, even specifying words that must be spoken, prior to a legal medical procedure. Just strikes me as bizarre.
Jack Morgan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The party of less intrusion mandating more intrusion. My Iron-O-Meter is pegging.
Bob Johnson
Benzine was commonly used in many industries for many years. It was used as lighter fluid in older lighters.
Michael B Openshaw
Know both sides of this argument: My 92-year-old mother smoked until the last year of her life (doctor said she was living proof only the good die young.) The wife has an allergy to cigarette smoke. Made things interesting.
Careful on which slippery slope you start down. A proposal was just put out on the floor to ban perfume in public places. This too is a health risk to people with allergies (my wife included).
Not in favor of either; smoking is STILL a legal activity. However, requiring prominent labeling of smoke-friendly places- including in advertising, makes sense.
C Baker
People die of cancer every day who are nowhere near smoking..so this is a bunch of Hogwash! This is more government controI and invades people's private lives..Leave smokers alone and focus on bills to stop drug use, legal and illegal...They say that there are more people in this country who are on legal drugs than ever before and they are driving in that sedated condition...hypocrits! You can drive drugged but I can't smoke?...insane. Our country is being invaded by people from all over the world and they focus on a smoking cigarette??
Geraldine Kennedy-Young
Yea, Texas Legislature if you can pass a statewide smoking ban. I have multiple sclerosis and am on oxygen 24/7. I am not able to go to many places due to people smoking. This is not only because I have difficulty breathing around tobacco smoke but also the danger of having oxygen in use in that environment. I am not the only one in this position. There are also many people who apparently do not recognize the danger of lighting up a cigarette near someone with oxygen in use. I have a severely reduced pulmonary function and do not need cigarettes taking away part of the clean air that I need to breathe. Of course, there is also the issue of increased danger of fires from neglected cigarettes left burning in an ashtray, etc., the nicotine stains on walls, clothes, etc., disgusting litter on the street corners where smokers empty their ashtrays at red lights while they wait for the light to change, etc. Come on, people...why let a weed control your lives? But, if you decide to do that, then do not force others to suffer because of your smoking habits. And, let's not forget the cost of tobacco. I have seen children who are obviously neglected hanging onto a parent who is purchasing tobacco.
I say, God bless Rep. Crownover and all the others who will support her bill as it goes thru the halls of the Legislature.
Michael B Openshaw
Geraldine, you- like my wife- have a medical condition that restricts what you can be around (which might also include perfume, which is on the floor to ALSO be banned in public places). I've seen manty a BBQ place that was smoky due to their business; not sure you'd want to be there either. And Candles on tables are also a restriction for your accident is it not? We're headed down a slippery slope of Nanny Stateism.here.
The real solution- as long as cigarette smoking remains a LEGAL activity- is smoking or smoke-free designations for entire establishments and very prominent labeling on businesses and advertising for business. Most people don't like to be in smoky environments, so the smoking places become a niche.
Amy Eldred
Does anyone care anymore about LIBERTY. Cigarettes are LEGAL. Until they are not legal, the government, at any level, has ZERO right to tell a PRIVATE business what they can allow in their business. This is just one more freedom robbing power grab on the part of gov't. Will it stop anyone from smoking? NO, it won't...it just irritates those of us who feel the gov't is reaching way to far.
For all of you folks applauding this just remember...next they will come after your soda or cookies or something else they deem "unhealthy". This is a very, very slippery slope. We the people need to stand up for our freedoms because nobody else is gonna do it!
Big thumbs down for the RINO Repub who thinks big brother knows better.
C Baker
I'd put up one cigarette against one lawn leaf blower spewing carbon monoxide exhauset any day. Lets ban them..I say use your rakes.
What should bother you more is the shear quantity of air pollution that they produce, but they're not as easy to target as a law abiding cigarette smoker...Don't drive on a freeway at 7:30am expecting clean air... How about those coal fired plants spewing so many poisions that they're killing trees in the hill country....But lets go after those few cigarettes? Perry added $1 tax per pack to balance the budget two years ago...isn't that enough? I guess the tobacco companies didn't donate like the Texas Liquor Lobbyists do...because that's what it's really all about!
Chris BIllingsley
Toxic tobacco smoke kills 65,000 INNOCENT Americans every year. This is genocide and MUST BE STOPPED!
You wouldn't allow anyone to be in a building or even standing on a street corner and spray from a can containing Carbon Monoxide, Polonium-235, Nicotine, Arsenic, Ammonia, Formaldehyde, Hydrogen Cyanide or any of the other 7,000 chemicals found in toxic tobacco smoke (many are carcinogenic and/or poisonous), so why would ANYONE still believe it's o.k. to light a little toxic waste dump and do the SAME!
Tobacco is ALREADY an ILLEGAL DRUG - YES! it is still illegal to poison people, no matter how slowly you do it!
BAN ALL SMOKING EVERYWHERE AND BAN THE ILLEGAL TOBACCO DRUG, NOW!
Chris BIllingsley
The CREEPS in the Texas House who voted AGAINST smoke-free air (to which every Texan has a LONG-STANDING RIGHT) should all be impeached!
SMOKE-FREE AIR EVERYWHERE, INDOORS AND OUT, NOW!!!
Chris BIllingsley
Smog technician not just blowing smoke
A smoker, he compares his breath to a car's emissions. Guess which is dirtier?
By Courtney Perkes
The Orange County Register (California)
Friday, August 4, 2006
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/homepage/article_1233657.php
COSTA MESA – Smog technician Christopher Delo pulls a long, coiled probe out of the exhaust pipe of a late-model Volvo. The car passed smog certification, so it's time for his smoke break.
Delo lights a Marlboro, still holding the pollution-measuring nozzle. He takes a drag and puffs directly into the end of the probe to "smog" himself.
Flashing across the computer screen at Newport Smog are readings for air-polluting molecules from partially burned fuel, including hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. The 1997 Volvo measured 50 parts per million of hydrocarbon emissions. Delo's breath reads 351.
In car terms, he's a spewing, gross polluter.
"I know over 2,000 chemicals are in a cigarette, but like a dummy, I still have to use them," says Delo, a two-pack-a-day smoker. "If you're pushing out more readings than your car, something's wrong. We don't run on combustion."
This year, California became the only state in the nation to classify second-hand smoke as a toxic air contaminant that causes premature births, heart disease and asthma.
"We've done such a good job of controlling auto exhaust that they're very clean, while someone blowing out cigarette exhaust is blowing out smoke," said Gennet Paauwe, spokeswoman for the state Air Resources Board.
Delo, 37, says he started smoking at 11. He watched his musician father perform in smoky bars. He had no trouble buying 50-cent packs from vending machines and liquor stores.
He knows all the health risks and can recite the anti-smoking statistics. But he has a hard addiction to stop.
Delo was married last month, and his wife wants him to quit. His doctor wants him to quit. His boss, a former smoker, wants him to quit. Delo's gone cold turkey several times, the longest for three years
"Nicotine only stays in your body three days," Delo says. "It's all mental."
Delo doesn't have health insurance and wants to avoid costly medical bills. He also estimates he's spending about $300 a month on his smokes.
"All the money I use for smoking, I could use for a vacation or saving to buy a home," he says. "That's thousands of dollars."
Delo explains that everyone exhales some contaminants because of the air they breathe. But when a non-smoking visitor took the test, the hydrocarbon reading came out at only 12 parts per million, about one-thirtieth of Delo's reading.
His high smog readings have stunned him and pushed his desire to beat his addiction.
Laura Garcia, a cardiovascular nurse at Anaheim Memorial Medical Center and a coordinator for the county's smoking-cessation program, said sometimes it's hard to find a fresh way of conveying the message against smoking.
"You've heard it over and over again," she said. "This is different – the way he's pursuing his experiment. We know how much we depend on our cars, and we look at our emissions and do our smog every year. That's something we can all relate to as adults."
Delo drives a Toyota Forerunner that has passed the smog test. He hopes to soon qualify for his own certificate.
"You've got to practice what you preach," he says. "This gives me some incentive."
CONTACT US: 714-796-3686 or cperkes@ocregister.com
Amy Eldred
Get a grip Chris. This vote isn't about cigarettes or who smokes them. It is about the government telling a private business owner what he/she can do in the business. Like it or not, smoking is legal and the enormous amount of tax $$ it nets will keep it legal. So, it's NOT okay for the gov't to tell a business they cannot allow it if they want to. Gov't bldgs are a different story and they have the right to dictate the rules of their facilities but they don't to someone else's business. This is a slippery slope and next we will see them deciding for us what to eat, what to drink, etc. etc. What if they decide that no restaurant can use tap water because it isn't clean enough. Think most restaurants could afford to use only bottled water. What if they dictated what brand? How bout if they tell auto mechanics they can't touch an engine without gloves because there are carcinogens on them. Imagine trying to work in those tight spaces without being able to fully utilize the sense of touch. And the list is endless. Anything in the name of health.
Humans are creatures of free will. If they exercise that free will in a way that is harmful to their bodies, that is their choice. America works because we are a free people but the nanny state just keeps butting itself in farther and farther into our lives. Most smokers I know are very conscientious about smoking in someone else's space, but I digress. This isn't about cigarettes...IT'S ABOUT LIBERTY.
Dave Mundy
So let me see if I get this right: the party that stands for individual liberty ALSO stands for more government intrusion into how you run your business?
I guess our erstwhile legislators will next go after hamburgers and candy and potato chips and sodas -- they make people fat, and Lord knows how much THAT costs the taxpayers.
Or maybe they'll pass an edict restricting how much each of us can drive -- cars are dangerous.
And too many parents don't do a good job -- as soon as you drop the package, let's ship those babies off to a government-run academy where they can be abused properly.
All you smoke-haters should remember the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller :
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
jon boman
I'm with you Darrel Mulloy. I believe anything and everything can be tied to money. All Wentworth had to do was show how campus carry could save money to the taxpayers. An example would be less lawsuits against the school for robberies and rapes occuring on campus.
I count on my representatives to represent me and thus far they have made it so I not only have to attend night classes defenseless but now I have to worry about where I light up lest the jackboots march in and arrest me!
mike adams
Even thogh Im not a smoker I think Croneover's bill is unfair to business owners, obviously Croneover is not a business owner.