Updated 1 p.m.
PROVIDENCE -- A Senate committee -- with the full backing of the Senate
president and majority leader -- unanimously passed a bill yesterday that
would ban smoking in restaurants, bars, museums, banks, malls and just
about every other public place.
While the Senate leadership firmly supports the legislation, a House
committee has already killed off a version of the measure, and House
Speaker William J. Murphy says he will leave it up to that committee to
decide whether the ban moves forward.
The Senate version of the bill was amended yesterday in an effort to
ease some concerns that led the House Labor Committee to vote down the
measure, 7 to 5, in April.
While the ban would basically apply to every workplace and public space,
the amended version now excludes vehicles used by only one person at a
time, common areas of residential facilities with four or less units and
does not consider a private residence a place of employment unless it is
used as a childcare or adult daycare facility.
Also changed was a section that would ban smoking within 25 feet of a
prohibited location, such as a restaurant. The legislation now calls for
a "reasonable distance."
"Basically what we're trying to do is make it a very reasonable,
workable bill," said Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown, sponsor
of the Senate version. "My focus right along has been to make the
workplace a safe, smoke-free, healthy environment.'
Rep. Arthur J. Corvese, D-North Providence, chairman of the House Labor
Committee, said the original House version, sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth
M. Dennigan, D-East Providence, "had to be worked on a great deal."
"I won't take issue with the deleterious effects of secondhand smoke,
however, as with every other bill we have to be very careful, the
vehicle by which we try to affect a secondhand smoking ban," Corvese
said.
In order to back the legislation, Corvese said, there would have to be
substantial changes.
Murphy, D-West Warwick, said he won't interfere with the committee
process.
The bill might also run into a roadblock in the governor's office.
Governor Carcieri's spokesman, Jeff Neal, said Carcieri "continues to
have concerns regarding how a statewide smoking ban would affect the
rights of individual citizens in private settings."
When asked what Carcieri means by "private settings," Neal said: "He is
not defining what those situations might be."
In the past, Carcieri has voiced concerns about how the ban would affect
private clubs.
Senate President William V. Irons and Senate Majority Leader Joseph A.
Montalbano, D-North Providence, took the unusual step yesterday of
joining the Health and Human Services Committee and voted in favor of
the legislation.
"I think without question, as we see in our neighboring states, the rest
of the world has now recognized the importance of this kind of issue for
the health of our citizens," said Irons, D-East Providence, who recently
quit smoking. "I admit publicly that I exposed people to smoke when I
shouldn't have, in certain circumstances, and it was wrong to have done."
Irons said the ban is a statement that Rhode Island is "moving rapidly
into modern times."
"To all those who smoke, I understand the pleasure it gives and I hope
they will understand that this is not a personal condemnation of them,
but rather a respect for others, who in the settings we talk of, have to
inhale their smoke," he said.
Irons said the Senate will lead the way on the issue.
The Massachusetts Senate approved a statewide smoking ban last week and
Connecticut passed a similar bill last month. California, New York and
Delaware have also banned smoking statewide.
Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis, D-Coventry, who owns a pizza parlor, told the
committee that he backs the legislation as long as Massachusetts passes
a ban.
"If our neighbors pass a smoking ban, I feel that at this point we
should also follow suit," he said.
Margaret Kane, executive director of the American Lung Association of
Rhode Island said, "This is a very big day for the people who are
concerned about the health of Rhode Island."
She said a lot has changed from the early 1970s when she first testified
in the State House and committee members would light up cigarettes,
cigars and pipes as she spoke.
"This is to protect workers, wherever they are," Kane said. "You can
choose to go to a different restaurant if you are a restaurant-goer. But
you cannot choose to work somewhere else."
DIGITAL EXTRA:
Read the amended version of the Senate smoking ban bill, posted today on the
state General Assembly site.
