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

By Dave Ranney and Sarah Green

KHI News Service



TOPEKA, Jan. 29 Five state senators introduced a bill Tuesday calling for a county-by-county vote on whether to ban smoking in public places.



"I believe this bill will save the lives of tens of thousands of Kansans," said Sen. David Wysong, R-Mission Hills, one of Senate Bill 493"s sponsors.



Other sponsors: Sens. Roger Reitz, R-Manhattan; Jim Barnett, R-Emporia; Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka; and Pete Brungardt, R-Salina.



Referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill would:

* Ban smoking in all public places. Motels could allow smoking in 20 percent of their rooms. Commercial truck drivers could smoke in their cabs.

"Casinos are not exempted, bars are not exempted, restaurants are not exempted," Wysong said.



* Fine violators $100 for their first offense, $200 for a second offense, $500 for a third offense.

"There"s a stiffer (penalty) for day care centers," Wysong said. "An individual can be assessed, a business can be assessed."

* Direct each of the state"s 105 counties to put the question on their Nov. 4 general election ballots.

"We"re taking advantage of the fact that this will be the biggest election in the United States and in Kansas, certainly, and we feel we"ll be able to touch a lot of folks who ordinarily wouldn"t be voting on this measure," said Reitz, a physician.

This year"s general election ballot will include the presidential candidates, all 125 state representatives and all 40 state senators.

"We feel this is something that is long overdue," Reitz said. "It will reduce health care costs and it gives people a chance to make the choice."

Cautious response

The Kansas Health Policy Authority"s 21-point health reform package calls for a statewide smoking ban for public places and workplaces; it does not include a county-by-county vote.

Health policy authority Executive Director Marcia Nielsen said the board would review the language in the proposed bill before taking an official position on the bill.

"The KHPA board was pretty clear in the kind of policy they supported," Nielsen said. "We"re looking forward to seeing more of the details of the bill that was introduced this morning."

A similar bill stalled in the Senate last year after smoking-ban advocates objected to an amendment that would have allowed county commissions to opt out of putting the measure on the ballot in their counties.

Such an opt-out, they said, would have created a "patchwork" where some counties would have smoking bans and others would not.

"The bottom line here is that with what we"re proposing here today, people will get a chance to vote. I think that will be a selling point to the rest of the members of the Legislature," Reitz said. "They will see that they can say "This is a people"s choice," and they don"t have to take all the responsibility for making it happen."

Advocates undecided

Clean-air advocates said they hadn"t decided whether to support the new bill.

Mary Jayne Hellebust, director of the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition, applauded the five senators" efforts, but said she remained "very concerned" about the language in the bill.

"The usual way of these laws being passed is by legislative action," she said. "That has been the norm. As the momentum of this issue moves forward, statewide laws that are being enacted are becoming stronger. This could easily push us back into that "patchwork" effect where some are protected and others are not."

Legislative optimism

Reitz, Wysong and Barnett each said they were confident the bill would pass the Senate.

"I think the bill has a much better chance of passing this year," said Barnett, also a physician.

"I feel this bill will definitely get out of Senate Judiciary Committee, and I have a strong belief this it will pass the Senate," Wysong said.

Other weren"t so sure.

"I think it will suffer the same fate as last year"s bill," said Sen. Phil Journey, R-Wichita.

Journey said the bill puts legislators in a position of alienating their constituents who smoke or those who don"t.

"It"s not a good issue for any of us (legislators) to take sides on," he said. "Myself? I don"t want bars and taverns in the bill."

Journey cited testimony from Lawrence tavern owners last year.

"It"s killing them, they made that pretty clear," he said. "It"s true, they may not have lost customers but what"s happening is that customer comes in has one beer, goes outside to smoke a cigarette and leaves. He"s finishing the six-pack at home."

Graig Moore, owner of Moorman"s Southside, a Pittsburg bar and deli, said a smoking ban would likely hurt his business but he expects it to happen "sooner or later."

"I don"t see Crawford County banning smoking I think that it would be one of the counties that might do it later," he said. "I do think it will happen someday. I don"t smoke, I don"t like breathing it, but it"s part of my job."

"It"s not going to pass this year"

Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He, too, doubted the bill"s chances for passage.

"I think it"s good that bill was introduced, and I recognize that a smoking ban is part of the Kansas Health Policy Authority"s legislative program," Vratil said. "But I really think there"s statewide educational process going on that"s probably going to take two or three or more years. Quite frankly, I don"t expect this bill to pass this session."

The measure"s fate in the House is difficult to predict. "I believe what they"re talking about has a better chance of passing than what they had last year," said House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls. "Local control really gets to be the dispute issue."

Neufeld declined to predict how the House would vote.

"I"m not through counting (votes) yet," he said. "I don"t know where the votes are."

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