Wouldn't it be great to see the lawmakers' and politicians' faces?
We could all gather at some smoke-easies and make the new Al Capones rich. Actually,it sounds like fun,doesn't it?
Posted on 04/05/2005 4:05:33 PM PDT by SheLion
State health officials and several lawmakers are pushing to close loopholes that allow smoking in clubs and workplaces.
The proposed legislation pleases many bar owners, who say they've lost customers to private clubs since Maine took the smoke out of taverns in 2004.
It also suits groups such as the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society, who claim many Mainers are exposed to secondhand smoke at work despite groundbreaking legislation passed by the Legislature 20 years ago.
"Even here in Maine, workplace smoking remains an issue," said Dr. Dora Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health. "Our surveys indicate that nearly 50,000 adults in Maine are employed in workplaces where smoking is allowed."
Maine passed a law in 1985 prohibiting smoking in private workplaces. But the Workplace Smoking Act also contained a loophole that survives today: A workplace can opt out of the rule if employees unanimously agree.
Indoor smoking also can still occur in private clubs such as the Elks Club and the American Legion, if their employees OK it. All these exemptions came, in part, from lawmakers' reluctance to regulate what happens in private establishments.
But bar owners say minimal entrance requirements at some private clubs make them the equivalent of public taverns. Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, agrees. He supports the legislation authored by Sen. Karl Turner, R-Cumberland, that would close the loophole.
"The commercial bars are dying," Mills said. "It's dreadfully unfair."
The bill -- "An Act to Promote Parity in the Laws Governing Smoking in the Workplace" -- would prohibit smoking at any business or club with paid employees.
Clubs that rely on volunteer labor would not be affected.
Opponents said the legislation would be an unwise -- and perhaps unconstitutional -- infringement on private personal choice. Others said the legislation would drain private clubs of members, affecting even the charity work they conduct.
"What you're discussing would hurt us more than we've ever been hurt before," said Donald Simeone, legislative chairman for the American Legion.
Supporters of the legislation believe many workers are told to accept smoking or find another job. While the law prevents such coercion, they say it's hard for workers to oppose a boss or foreman who smokes.
"We are a state that has a lot of businesses," said Ed Miller, president of the American Lung Association of Maine. "And in a small business, being a problem can mean being unemployed."
Maine has been aggressive toward smoking. The 1985 law was among the first of its kind, as was 1993 legislation that banned smoking in public places, including restaurants. Despite the 1993 law, many restaurants continued to allow smoking by operating under a tavern license.
The state closed that loophole on Jan. 1, 2004, when legislation went into effect prohibiting smoking in bars. Maine was the fifth state to ban tavern smoking, after California, Delaware, New York and Connecticut.
Proponents of that law say it's been beneficial for the health of bar and restaurant employees. But bar owners told the committee the ban has put them at a competitive disadvantage.
"I can barely pay my bills now, which never happened before," said Paul Lambert, a Portland bar owner who said he's lost customers to a nearby private club.
A public hearing on the proposed legislation was held Monday by the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee.
Chris Churchill -- 623-3811, Ext. 431
cchurchill@centralmaine.com
Incrementally, smokers become outcasts. They need a makeover and become as polite as cigar smokers.
I would love to see every SMOKER in the USA start a movement to ban smoking and make it illegal.
Wouldn't it be great to see the lawmakers' and politicians' faces?
We could all gather at some smoke-easies and make the new Al Capones rich. Actually,it sounds like fun,doesn't it?
I don't think it - I KNOW IT
Actually it does!!
LOL! I'll get there early and make the coffee!
Amen. Never mind the fact that socialism doesn't work, these idiots just keep trying.
It's for the CHILDREN, It's for the CHILDREN, It's for the CHILDREN, It's for the CHILDREN, It's for the CHILDREN!
Employees are more important than employers, Employees are more important than employers, Employees are more important than employers, Employees are more important than employers (who cares about viability or profit?!).
Sigh.
You can definately add MA to that list!!
ahhhhhh my only other vice :)
You might very well be talking about Delaware - that place is REALLY, and I mean REALLY scary anymore. The Governor there almost makes yours look reasonable.
Delaware has a huge surplus and they are talking tax cuts and big state employee raises - yet the Governor wants to double the cigarette tax again.............and has a lot of support for it in the House, which is controlled by Republicans.......Republicans from the northern half of Delaware make Democrats in the southern half look like rightwingnuts.
Just make the sale of tobacco illegal...........We can all grow our own.
Of course the sale of it commercially will never become illegal because the anti-smokers do not want to pivk up the tax burden paid by those who use tobacco.
(expletive deleted)antis..........
I'm just really sick and tired of them using the Tobacco Settlement money against us like this. That money is paid for 100% by the smokers when we pay taxes on cigarettes.
The money was supposed to be used for education and smoking cessation for those that wanted to quit and needed help.
Then, the Boards of Health spawned these Partnerships for a Tobacco Free Everything Coalitions and are using that tax money to control, restrict and abuse those that choose to use a legal commodity. And I'm sick of it.
When they force a total smoking ban on a state, then I believe that cigarette tax money should stop feeding them. It's gotten way out of hand and they think we are all sheeple out here and have no idea what is going on. Well, they have another thought coming.
That's why I have been rolling my own for the past 4 years. I don't have to pay all those taxes into the state coffers any longer.
Next, your home.
Sort of like the boom experienced by Bahamian mariners when the tax against big boats went into effect.
I know, and the trouble is, if all other smokers did the same thing, they would start transferring the taxes to supplies for making your own.
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