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Posted on 08/28/2006 8:05:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO
Californians who smoke in motor vehicles carrying young children could be slapped with $100 fines under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate.
But a measure to force automakers to produce more lower-polluting, alternative-fuel vehicles fell four votes short of passing.
The smoking ban, in a bill by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, would cover vehicles carrying children who were required to ride in a child safety seat.
Under current law, that would be children who were younger than 6 or who weighed less than 60 pounds. But a bill on the governor's desk would require children younger than 8 years to ride in child seats unless they were at least 4-foot-9.
Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, said the Koretz bill was an attempt to "protect the health of children who cannot protect themselves."
"We all know that secondhand smoke is hazardous," she said, particularly for young children whose lungs are still developing. "Children are effectively smoking a pack and a half a day for every hour they are exposed to smoke in a car."
A 23-14 vote returned the bill to the Assembly, which initially approved it last year when it dealt with a different subject.
The alternative fuel bill, by Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, would require the California Air Resources Board to adopt regulations requiring that at least half the new cars and light trucks sold in California starting in 2020 be classified as clean-running alternative vehicles.
Battery-powered cars, vehicles that ran on ethanol or another alternative fuel, and vehicles that used a fuel mixture that was less than half gasoline would meet that standard.
Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, said the bill would "help move us away from our 99 percent dependence on petroleum for motor vehicle fuel."
But the bill, which did not generate debate on the Senate floor, received only 17 votes. It needed at least 21, a bare majority of the 40-member Senate, to pass. Eighteen senators voted against it.
Supporters indicated they would take up the measure for a second vote before lawmakers adjourn their 2006 session on Thursday.
Here's a rundown of some of the other bills voted on Monday:
POOL SAFETY By a 28-7 vote, the Senate approved another bill designed to protect children. The measure by Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, would require homeowners to install fences, door alarms or another anti-drowning device when they remodel a swimming pool or spa.
The bill, which goes back to the Assembly for a vote on Senate amendments, extends requirements that now cover new pools to older pools and spas when they are remodeled.
CELL PHONES The Senate, by a 23-16 vote, approved a bill by Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Redwood City, that would give consumers 21 days to rescind a new cell phone service they found dissatisfactory.
The measure now goes back to the Assembly for a vote on Senate amendments.
DARFUR By a 29-7 vote, the Senate approved another Koretz bill that would attempt to pressure Sudan to stop genocidal violence in the Darfur region.
The bill would prohibit California's two giant public employee pension funds, the California Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System, from investing in oil and other energy-related companies that operate in Sudan but haven't taken steps to stop the violence.
The measure also would bar the funds from investing in companies that supply weapons to Sudan.
Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, said a similar investment ban helped bring about the end of apartheid in South Africa.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING The Assembly approved a bill by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, that would extend public services such as refugee cash assistance, Medi-Cal benefits and employment services to non-citizen victims of human trafficking, domestic violence and other violent crimes.
In order to receive state and local aid, those individuals would have to show that they were taking steps to meet eligibility requirements for federal benefits.
The bill passed 45-4 and now goes back to the Senate for a vote on Assembly amendments.
WAL-MART The Assembly voted 41-31 along party lines to approve a bill by Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, that would require so-called "superstore retailers" such as Wal-Mart and Costco to provide cities and counties where they wish to build with a detailed economic impact report.
The reports would include an assessment of the effects the superstore would have on local retailers.
Assembly Republicans argued that the bill would create a hostile business environment and harm healthy competition among retailers.
It now returns to the Senate for a vote on Senate amendments.
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Associated Press Writer Robin Hindery contributed to this report.
___
On the Net: http://www.assembly.ca.gov and http://www.senate.ca.gov
Californians who smoke in motor vehicles carrying young children could be slapped with $100 fines under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate.
But a measure to force automakers to produce more lower-polluting, alternative-fuel vehicles fell four votes short of passing.
The smoking ban, in a bill by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, would cover vehicles carrying children who were required to ride in a child safety seat.
Let me make sure I have this straight.............High pollution vehicles are ok - but the non-issue tobacco smoke in a vehicle is now illegal????? Where do these people get their brains from? There is obviously something in the air in California, and it sure as chit ain't tobacco smoke.
"We all know that secondhand smoke is hazardous," she said, particularly for young children whose lungs are still developing. "Children are effectively smoking a pack and a half a day for every hour they are exposed to smoke in a car."
How can this cretin sleep at night knowing she is allowing these kinds of lies to be published?
Soon it will be illegal to die in California
Just the other evening, my wife and I were at a local Walgreens where I decided to buy myself a pack of my favorite cigars. Turning around, I saw a woman standing a short distance from me with a disgusted look on her face as she starred me down. I looked her square in the eye and said, "yes, they are still LEGAL!" She looked down and walked away rather red faced.
Nice to see California is one step closer to the Police State they seem to want. Just another reason I still refuse to buy anything from California or visit the state any longer.
This is just blindingly NUTS!
I agree with you.........at 6 my child weighed no where near 60 pounds...heck at 8 she still doesn't weigh 60 pounds. Of course at 46 and 5'10" mommy only weighs about 125.....gee, genetics are great, aren't they?
Actually, he hit his target rather well. If he was flying a B-2 with GPS guided bombs, it was a direct hit!
Sorry, I do not accept the "for the children" aspect of your argument, since this was revenge for the government's murder of American children at Waco.
It was murder, and all because their parents failed to pay the required taxes!
Once again, I am talking about our government crossing the line and regulating private lives.
Since I worked for the government for 20 years, I do understand both sides of the equation. After Waco, I had to resign from the government.
I thought that was already banned.
Arkansas did it first. Huckabee, who so many around here tout asa Republican hopeful in 2008, signed it a month or so ago.
Major of NYC gave a million dollars of his money to stop smoking world wide. The liberals are going there- my question is what are the states going to do about the tax lose?
Most Arizonans did but it's one of their selling points. It would seem this proposition would be a slam dunk. I don't know why the heck they play their ad pimping this during EVERY commercial break on talk radio here. I even got a pamplet about this in the mail today. It's amazing the things people can come up with to spend the "tobacco money" on.
Lots of people here tout all sorts of people; none of whom stand a snowball's chance in hell of EVER being president.
"Children are effectively smoking a pack and a half a day for every hour they are exposed to smoke in a car." -- Sen. Deborah Ortiz
That'll be true when monkeys fly out of her butt.
They'll just raise income taxes and every other tax they can think of
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Now THAT sounds like a great idea! How exactly are you doing that?
Making money just like the moonshiners and rum runners. excellent!
Revenge!?!?!!? You sound like a stuuuuupid Jihadist or something. WTFO??
Got a link to thatthread?
I'm quite well aware of the justification offered for the terrorist bombing of the Murrah building.
Timothy McVeigh had no more right to murder people than the government did. He did not have the right to exact revenge for an act which did him personally no harm -- his kids weren't murdered.
He saw himself as the avenger of the folks at Waco. And he was mistaken, and he burns in Hell now for it.
Look, I'm a libertarian who lives out in rural upstate NY -- I want the damned government out of my life at least as much as you do. But that doesn't justify murder, and it certainly doesn't the third-party murder of innocent Americans by someone who wasn't harmed by the original act of our overbearing government.
I'm actually not interested in arguing about McVeigh any more -- you have your beliefs and I have mine, and we're not going to convince each other.
Could we go back to talking about cigarettes?
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