Posted on 06/02/2006 5:40:02 PM PDT by sweetliberty
I heard today as I was getting ready to leave work that as of today, it is illegal in the state of Arkansas to smoke in a private vehicle with a minor or on the premises of any business establishment frequented by minors. Does anybody have any more detailed information on this? If true, this is an outrage! Not unexpected, but an outrage nevertheless. Before we know it, we will have to have prior government approval to use a public restroom.
That's exactly what it is coming to, but because it is tobacco, there are many people that claim to be conservatives right here on this forum that are just so happy with things like this.
Both of my parents smoked, anytime, anyplace. By all rights, I should be dead or at least have a terminal illness, and should be in therapy for child abuse. Sheesh. It's tobacco, people!!!! Get a grip.
Exactly. People should be thoughtful. Government should mind its own business. Hint: government's job is to control the nation's borders. OUR job is to control the borders of our personal lives.
Anyone who thinks this is still a free country isn't paying attention to what's been going on in Washington, D.C. The federal government is now acting so far outside its charter that the Founding Fathers would barely even recognize it. And now even the Republicans, who used to try to hold the line, have given in to the temptation to tax & spend, tax & spend...
The best of America is long since over. We're a long ways down the slope to nanny-state socialism.
Hitler won...
>>>Free from other governments as well as our own.
>>This particular bill was initiated and passed by someone who was annoyed by seeing this happen. He admitted it was a pet peeve of his, but he initiated it just to feed his own ego, not because he cares about children.
Free from OTHER governments is more dead on than the pet peeve.
The non smoking bills are part of NGO funded UN/WTO plan called Healthy People 2010
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1563271/posts
Non smoking is one of the 28 initiatives listed.
Welcome to the governing partnership of
NVSS, NCHS, CDC; WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA
This is what I found so far. I am still looking....(I don't see anything about the vehicle law yet).
Arkansas Tobacco Laws
A summary of Arkansas state law is provided below
(for specific questions regarding state law, contact your legal advisor.)
Minimum Age
Customers must be 18 years or older to purchase tobacco products. Any person who sells tobacco in any form or cigarette papers shall have the right to deny a sale to any person.
Acceptable Forms of Identification
Any documents issued by a governmental agency containing a description and/or a photograph of the person and bearing a date of birth including, without being limited to, a passport, military identification card, or driver's license.
Restricted Products
Tobacco in any form or cigarette papers.
Fine/Penalty Schedule for Selling to Minors
Employees who violate this provision will be subject to a fine not to exceed $100 per violation. Retailers shall be subject to a fine of up to $250 for the first violation; up to $500 and suspension of license for up to two days for the second violation within 48 months; up to $1,000 and suspension of license for up to 7 days for a third violation within 48 months; up to $2,000 and suspension of license for up to 14 days for a fourth or subsequent violation within 48 months; and possible license revocation for a fifth violation within 48 months. A notice of alleged violation shall be given to the retailer within 10 days.
Affirmative Defense
No penalty shall be imposed upon a retailer or employee who can establish an affirmative defense that, prior to the date of the violation, the retailer or agent or employee of the retailer furnishing the tobacco or cigarette papers reasonably relied upon proof of age which identified the person receiving the tobacco or cigarette papers as being 18 years of age or older. When reviewing a possible violation, the court shall consider whether the retailer adopted and enforced a written policy against selling cigarettes or tobacco products to minors, informed its employees of the applicable laws, required employees to verify the age of customers using photographic identification, established and imposed disciplinary sanctions for noncompliance, and that the appearance of the purchaser was such that an ordinary prudent person would believe him or her to be of legal age to make the purchase.
Minor Possession
The possession, purchase, attempted purchase or use of any form of tobacco or cigarette papers by persons under age 18 is prohibited, unless acting within the scope of employment. The use of any falsified identification, or any identification other than his or her own, for the purpose of obtaining or attempting to obtain tobacco products is prohibited. Any cigarettes or tobacco products found in the possession of a person under 18 years of age may be confiscated by a certified law enforcement officer or a school official and immediately destroyed.
Sign Requirement
A sign must be displayed in a conspicuous place indicating that the sale of tobacco products to, or purchase of, or possession of tobacco products by a person under the age of eighteen (18) years of age is prohibited by law.
Failure to post signs will subject retailer to fines outlined above.
Compliance Checks
As a condition of receiving federal substance abuse block grant funds, federal law requires the State of Arkansas to conduct random, unannounced inspections of tobacco outlets to determine compliance rates. Persons under 18 years of age may be enlisted to assist an authorized agent or representative of a state or local law enforcement authority, the Arkansas Tobacco Control Board, the Arkansas Department of Health, or other state governmental agency in testing compliance with written parental or legal guardian consent. The underage purchaser, if questioned by the retailer or the agent or employee of the retailer about his or her age, shall state his or her actual age and shall present a true and correct identification if verbally asked to present it. Any failure on the part of the person under eighteen (18) years of age to provide true and correct identification, if verbally asked for it, shall be a defense. The Department of Health, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention, coordinates the inspections.
Visual Characteristics of a State-Issued License
"UNDER 18 UNTIL 00-00-0000" appears in red above the photo of a license holder under the age of 18.
DISCLAIMER: This information summary is provided as a service of the Coalition, but is not intended to provide legal advice or analysis. These summaries are not intended to be complete representations of state law, which may contain additional rules and restrictions relating to tobacco products not mentioned in this summary, as well as retailing prohibitions related to matters including, but not limited to, state required training, minimum pack size, the sale of loose cigarettes and other restrictions. Retailers should not rely on these summaries as complete or accurate descriptions of applicable federal, state or local law. Users with questions about the law should seek the advice of counsel. Each state law is unique and possibly represents multiple legislative or regulatory acts. Local laws may differ. Check with local authorities for variations from state law. These summaries are not intended to be complete representations of state law.
Yuppers.
No one arrested ALL the war criminals nor tracked the youth.
The Nazi gold was FOUND 1998
http://www.pcha.gov/goldtrainfinaltoconvert.html
Then Bill Clinton appointed the "Presidential Holocaust Committee" and settled with 32 Jews.
So....who has the gold?
I don't exactly how the person who told us this got the information, but in our office, we often are included in the email loop of stuff direct from the governor's office. I know there were some angry people about it.
Ok! Here it is! ~gag alert~~~
Lighting up with young kids in vehicle banned under bill
April 29, 2006
JAKE BLEED AND MICHAEL R. WICKLINE
House Bill 1046 started out as a joke to just about everyone but Bob Mathis. And now it’s his turn to laugh.
The Hot Springs Democrat and reformed smoker spent much of this week in strong opposition to a bill to ban smoking in most workplaces.
It was a Mathis amendment that came close to killing that bill, says Gov. Mike Huckabee, the primary supporter of the measure.
So when Mathis filed a bill Wednesday evening to ban smoking in cars carrying young children who are restrained in car seats, a lot of people laughed. They didn’t take him or his bill very seriously, Mathis says.
But he showed up Thursday morning ready to fight. He got his bill through the House Rules Committee at noon, then through the full House just before 5 p. m., representatives approving it 58-13, with 29 House members not voting.
The bill went to the Senate on Thursday night, shot through the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor around lunchtime Friday, and wound up on the Senate floor just before 2 p. m.
Sen. Terry Smith, D-Hot Springs, the Senate sponsor of the bill, said the measure means adults would be barred from smoking in vehicles with children in child safety seats.
“Let’s do something for kids,” Smith said in a brief introduction of the bill.
Senators passed it 33-1, sending it to the governor.
Huckabee at one point Friday told Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, that Mathis “was basically doing the bill as a joke and the darn thing passed both ways.”
Huckabee said Friday afternoon that the bill sounded like a great idea.
“It’s obviously protecting the child against secondhand smoke,” the governor said at a news conference Friday. “I think it’s a great bill. I’m glad that’s cleared both houses. Delighted.”
HB 1046 went from laughable to laudable in under two days.
Mathis says the bill fit snugly into the already hard lobbying being done in support of the ban on smoking in the workplace. That bill, Senate Bill 19 by Sen. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock, drew the lobbying power of the governor, the state’s chief health officer, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the Arkansas Medical Society and others.
“There was so much emphasis on the anti-smoking things, it seems like it just fit right in with everything else,” Mathis said.
Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, didn’t vote on the bill when it came up in the House on Thursday.
“What happened to that bill, by the way ?” he asked Friday evening.
Bond said he didn’t vote because he was too busy worrying about legislation meant to satisfy the state Supreme Court, bills that were the original reason for having the session in the first place.
“We were trying our very best to complete our work on the mandate for Lake View. To do it in a week, to show the public that we’re working our hardest,” Bond said. “Things get moving rather quickly.”
Mathis’ bill amends a section of existing law that requires children who are under the age of 6 and weigh less than 60 pounds to ride in a “safety seat properly secured to the vehicle,” according to Arkansas Code Annotated 27-34-104. Breaking that law can mean a fine of between $ 25 and $ 100.
Mathis’ bill simply bans smoking in all motor vehicles carrying children who are restrained in those seats. The bill carries a $ 25 fine, which can be waived if drivers prove they have entered a smoking cessation program.
Violating the bill would be a “primary offense,” Mathis said, meaning police could use violations of the bill to justify pulling someone over.
“And I’m tickled to death about it,” Mathis said.
He said he wasn’t particularly sure how police would determine the age or weight of children while trying to enforce the law. He said his bill was meant to be enforced in the same way as A. C. A. 27-34-104.
“I don’t know that the police are going to be out there with a scale weighing anybody,” Mathis said.
A spokesman for the Little Rock Police Department said he wasn’t too sure on how the law would be enforced in the field, either.
“That’s a good question,” said Little Rock Police Sgt. Terry Hastings.
“The law enforcement of it is something that would have to be worked out. If a parents says, ‘No, they’re 7,’ that could be a problem.”
Mathis, who is term limited, says the bill would become part of his legacy as a lawmaker. He said he regularly hassles other drivers when he sees them smoking in a car with children. Sometimes they give him dirty looks, Mathis said. Sometimes they give him “the obscene gesture.”
Huckabee declined to say Friday whether he would veto any of the bills passed in this special session. Information for this article was contributed by C. S. Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Read
Well, unfortunately, this has been in affect since April. :(
What a crock of chit, IMHO. And the Governor is just DELIGHTED over this bill. He too can pound sand, the forker!
Well if we know Billy Boy, probably him and his bim have it stashed in Chapaqua (sp?).
Next step: forcing parents to carry ID on their children.
Thanks of the research.
Our Gov would sign the "smoking ban" in cars carrying children if he could. It's still being discussed.
Welcome to Arkansas, ya'll.."The Nanny State".
sw
That should be "for" the research.
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