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
Actually the Bloominidiot mayor of NYC gave the anti-smoker cartel 125 million dollars........
It's his money, he can do what he wants with it - but when he uses his taxpayer funded, elected office to promote it, I've got a majorly serious problem.
I was born and raised in NYC and come from 3 generations of NYPD.........Bloominidiot has made a mockery of that city.
"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."
Now, why aren't we suing her for fraud?
How is it that people can stand up and LIE LIE LIE and get away with it? where is the accountability? Not to mention the study that supports her theory?
I find this stop smoking thing really appalling. It is a legal substance it provides tons of money into every state, yet there are states that want it banned. The freedom part is one issue - make up the revenue is another isssue.
Hi neighbor :) Renzi is my Rep too.
My dear FRiend, that is what I have been talking about the whole time.
Perhaps there is nothing in this world that you are willing to fight for.
Let me reverse this and ask you a very simple question:
What is still legal?
Be carefull....
The last time I asked this question, the result was: "You can legally have emotions."
This whole thing has REALLY gotten much too out of hand!
Perhaps you're dead wrong.
You clearly have not bothered to click on my name and read my profile page on FR, nor followed through to my profile on Wikipedia, to see what I believe, and what I would fight for.
Lighten up and read a little. Your attempt at an insult was uninformed, and I'll forgive your ignorance, in good humor, but only this once.
Hi! Glad to see another Arizonan here! Renzi is doing what it takes to get re-elected. I don't think he is going to have any problems.
Samuel Adams
Well my FRiend, I would say the exact same words to you.
I think that must be the same ad I have heard on TV constantly. That woman's voice is one of the most annoying I have ever heard.
That's the one! I just read where we are going to have two of these smoking ban fiascos on the proposition ballot this time. One that adds 2 cents a pack to cigarettes for "enforcement" and one that is going to help a committee "officer" pimping the proposition to sell air "purifiers" to bars. Two beauties to go along with the Scratch Ticket Voter Ballot Lottery Fiasco Act proposition. These people who come up with these things are out of their minds.
We all must be reminded of Sam Adams' fine challenging words from time to time. I do not take your use of them to me any differently than when I say them to you. The challenge starts with "IF". May God grant that I never fail to answer it in the negative!
You are welcome to identify with Tim McVeigh, it's your right and (per your earlier query) it is legal.
I prefer to identify with less misguided individuals. But I daresay that we're aiming for roughly the same end, albeit in different ways. Getting and keeping oppressive government off the backs of free people is a constant battle, in America as well as around the world.
I am proud to live in America, and wouldn't trade places with anyone, anywhere else. But that doesn't blind me to the ways in which our government restricts our liberty in the name of security, safety, health, and whatnot. I resist those restrictions every day, and work for their elimination. In that, I believe we are the same.
American Cancer Society catches the Surgeon General in an outright lie...
July 1, 2006
The Surgeon General showed up very regal looking to provide a press release rehashing the tired old argument that secondhand smoke is deadly and must be banned. And with his next statement:
Separate "no smoking" sections DO NOT protect you from secondhand smoke. Neither does filtering the air or opening a window.
It seemed a feable attempt to pre-empt any action short of a total smoking ban.....as if to confirm that pro-smoking ban activists' credibility in the public is failing miserably.
Well I am sorry to report that the American Cancer Society conducted air quality testing at several smoking venues which prove the Sugeon General flat out wrong.
Take a look at the above table, do you see the 20 reading? It represents a restaurant with an enclosed (separate) smoking area. And the 20 is actually 20 nanograms, a nanogram is 10 (-9).
So......let me put a number to that nanogram for you: 0.000000020 of a gram/cubic meter was the secondhand smoke concentration for the restaurant with the enclosed smoking area. Which is 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA regulations for the secondhand smoke measured airborne component. Thus the American Cancer Society destroys the Surgeon General's and RWJF (Nicoderm) funded James Repace argument that seperation and ventilation don't work.
The Surgeon General can stomp his feet, and scream at the top of his lungs...like a little Napoleon "....because I said so....." all he wants. But it doesn't change the facts........and the facts show he is telling a bold faced lie to the American public.
Read
These leftist commies in California need to mind their own freaking business for once. The nanny state is so getting out of hand in this nation.
I am missing your point.
Where we may depart, is how we view what Sam Adams would do in this situation.
Sorry, but I highly doubt that Sam Adams would have only written a "strongly worded email" to his local government officials.
Actually, I think he did something rather important, as a result of, or closely related to, the government's tobacco laws.
Thank God that Sam Adams was able to write such an outstanding letter to his government and get such immediate results!
Thanks for the ping, Sis. This is really nuts!
In California, let the kiddies breath SMOG! LOL
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