Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

By Sarah Green and Jim McLean

KHI News Service



TOPEKA, Feb. 19 Kansas is unlikely to join the other 21 states that have outlawed smoking in public places.



At least, not this year.



Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, announced late last week that Senate Bill 37, which would have prohibited smoking in virtually all of the state"s workplaces, would not be debated on the floor in 2007. Instead, he said the Senate would request that an interim committee be appointed to dig into the issue and make a recommendation to the 2008 Legislature.



Schmidt had earlier authored an amendment to the bill to allow county commissioners to opt-out of smoking ban. In counties where the commission opted out of the ban, the amendment would have allowed citizens to put the issue on the ballot for a countywide vote.



Schmidt said he thought the bill, as amended, would come close to passing, but he wouldn"t test it.



"I don't think anybody wants to vote on this thing this year," he said.



The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill without recommendation in January, reflecting dissent within the committee over whether the state should intervene given that local governments are already making their own laws.



But Sen. David Wysong, R-Mission Hills, the bill"s sponsor, said he was encouraged by the announcement the bill wouldn"t make it to the Senate calendar.



"I think this is going to help the bill," he said. "I knew it would not pass both houses in the first year anyway."



Not enough time



The bill didn"t have enough time to develop properly, Schmidt said, a concern he voiced in the Judiciary committee debate and again on Friday.



The original bill probably would have died in committee, "and I don't think that would have been a very good outcome," he said, explaining that a defeat in committee would have set the issue back and made it harder to produce compromise later.



And the "no-compromise" position that supporters of the original bill including the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association took, withdrawing their support after his amendment was included didn"t help, Schmidt said.



"That is never, never, never a formula for success in the legislative arena," he said.



But smoking ban opponents also weren't in a compromising mood, he added.



"Both sides assumed an all-or-nothing posture this year," he said.



Schmidt says he hopes appointing an interim committee will allow proponents and opponents to work through their respective concerns and produce legislation that can easily pass the Legislature either next session or the one after.



"This issue needs to mature in the legislative arena," he said.



With 21 states having passed statewide smoking restrictions, Schmidt said, Kansas will likely follow suit.



"It's only a matter of time until we get some additional regulation."



Lung cancer deaths



The version of the bill Wysong introduced sought to ban smoking from virtually all workplaces across the state, including restaurants, bars, health-care facilities and licensed day-care centers.



Wysong, who told the committee that he sponsored the bill after family members and friends, some of whom did not smoke, died from lung cancer, was among backers of the bill who testified during a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 17. The bill remained in the Judiciary committee about two weeks.



Committee members presented amendments extending the smoking ban to cars carrying children and asked that instead of barring smoking in all places that small businesses that volunteered to ban smoking be included in the state"s health insurance pool. Neither amendment made it to the committee's final vote.



Wysong, too, withdrew his support for the bill after Schmidt"s amendment was added. Now he"s preparing for the next discussion of a statewide ban.



Discussing the bill during the interim session later this year will give House members an opportunity to learn more about it, he said.



"I think it will make people understand that this really is a health issue," he said.

In the meantime, Wysong said he would continue to monitor the bill and work to arrange speakers for interim committee meetings, including former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who released a definitive report on the dangers of secondhand smoke before leaving office at the end of his term in July 2006.



"Today, massive and conclusive scientific evidence documents adverse effects of involuntary smoking on children and adults, including cancer and cardiovascular disease in adults, and adverse respiratory effects in both children and adults," Carmona wrote.



Advocates still watching



Anti-tobacco advocates said they were pleased the issue would be pushed to the interim session.



Mary Jayne Hellebust, executive director of the Tobacco-Free Kansas Coalition, said the bill presented to the Senate was too confusing and wouldn"t have been the best for the state.



"Our consensus was that there were too many complications in the bill, and it needs more time to be developed," she said. "I think our goal is to have an effective bill that covers Kansans in all areas of the state. As such, a decision to have further study on the bill is an excellent one.



"Ordinances and state laws that are simple, strong and fair are the ones that work best," she said. "There are fewer legal complications and challenges. As soon as you get in to a lot of the complicated language and unusual assortment of exemptions, people regard that as being unfair."



Dr. Howard Rodenberg, director of the division of health in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the agency would take the opportunity to educate legislators to "fashion a bill that will effectively protect all Kansans from secondhand smoke."



Lisa Benlon, governmental relations director for the American Cancer Society, said her organization would continue to pursue a "perfect bill," meaning one with no opt-out provisions.



"The American Cancer Society is, on one hand, disappointed that we can"t get a smoke-free bill," Benlon said. "However, on the other hand, if it"s not a really good bill, we commend Sen. Schmidt for delaying action on it."



Locals aren"t waiting



To date, 17 Kansas cities and one county have adopted ordinances that restrict or prohibit smoking in public places.



Talks in Derby about following suit have been ongoing for more than six months. But the promise of the statewide bill didn"t halt the movement for a local ordinance.



"The state actions have impacted Derby"s discussions as they always do," said Mandy Wagner, assistant to the Derby city manager. "Our focus is still for our citizens and what is best for Derby, and that we as a community should decide."



Derby, on Wichita"s southeast side, has two different forms of a local ordinance pending before the city council, Wagner said. But she said the council hasn"t been able to reach an agreement on the scope the ordinance or a date on which to make it effective.



Both proposals would ban smoking in most public and workplaces. Exemptions that have been considered include stand-alone tobacco shops; private clubs and fraternal organizations; manufacturing plants and nursing homes. The difference between the two is their starting dates: one would begin on Aug. 1, 2008; the second is contingent on a Wichita ban.



At the council"s Feb. 13 meeting, council members agreed to table the discussion until a consensus could be reached.



During the same meeting, the council approved the city"s legislative agenda which supports a state-wide smoking ban, Wagner said.



Sarah Green and Jim McLean are staff writers for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. They can be reached at 785-233-5443.