Senators debate statewide smoking ban

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BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

Tobacco got no love Tuesday during debate at the Capitol on a statewide smoking ban.

But property rights, personal freedom and free market concepts got valentines from state senators.

And it was clear legislators are going to do plenty of talking about the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act.

LB395, sponsored by Sens. Joel Johnson of Kearney, Ray Aguilar of Grand Island and Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center, would ban smoking at worksites and other public places. It is modeled after Lincoln’s city ordinance.

As of Tuesday, the bill had collected at least 15 amendments, one of which was voted down.

An amendment by Omaha Sen. Gwen Howard that would have added foster homes to the list of places where people couldn’t smoke failed to get the required 25 votes.

Other amendments would limit the ban to metropolitan, primary and first-class cities, exempt tobacco stores and take away a requirement to ban smoking within 20 feet of workplace entrances and windows.

That, Johnson said, would put smokers outside some Lincoln bars in the middle of O Street.

Debate — some are calling it a filibuster to delay the bill — will continue today.

Most senators in the discussion Tuesday said they hate smoking. Some suffered smoking-related diseases or had lost family members and friends to them.

Sen. Tom White of Omaha said he smoked from age 14 to 25 and was diagnosed with bladder cancer at 39. He’s been cancer-free for 11 years.

“I doubt anyone on the floor despises cigarette smoking any more than me,” he said. “Nevertheless, I rise in opposition.”

White called the bill poorly drafted and said it takes away personal liberties — liberties that allow us all to be stupid if we so desire.

It also allows warrantless searches by law enforcement or health directors to determine compliance. It’s unconstitutional, he said.

“We cannot legislate common sense. We can educate and we can persuade,” he said.

Other opponents joined him in saying tobacco is an awful addiction, but businesses and individuals have the right to choose.

Sen. Pat Engel of South Sioux City stopped smoking 28 years ago, then had heart bypass surgery.

“I don’t believe the state should tell everyone in Nebraska what to do,” he said.

Nebraskans talk out of both sides of their mouths when they raise tobacco taxes for revenue, then take away the rights of smokers, he said.

Lincoln Sen. Danielle Nantkes, who opposes the ban, filed an amendment to strike a section from the bill that would allow any part of it to be declared unconstitutional or invalid without affecting the remaining portions.

Bar owners in her district are struggling because of Lincoln’s ban, she said. A University of Nebraska-Lincoln study showed Lincoln bars lost $170,000 in business each month in 2005, she said.

Sixty-two percent of Lincoln voters supported the city’s smoking ban in 2004.

Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine said she cannot support a ban that should be left up to cities. People who want to “level the playing field” are not concerned about health, she said. They are concerned about business.

“I don’t believe our job is to have another state mandate,” she said.

But the bill also had support.

Lincoln Sen. Bill Avery, whose grandfather raised tobacco in North Carolina, said most people in his family — everyone but his parents, who didn’t smoke — suffered its effects.

Clean air is a public good, he said, and the Legislature’s job is to provide for the public good and to protect nonsmokers.

Sen. Vickie McDonald of St. Paul challenged those who touted the importance of local control. Why is there now support for a bill that would take away a city’s right to ban concealed weapons?

And for those who would hold up the rights of individual Nebraskans, said Sen. John Wightman of Lexington, more questionable practices have been banned — including a motorcycle helmet law, which protects only the rider.

Two years ago, an effort to ban smoking in all Nebraska restaurants and bars that sell food failed to get the 25 votes needed to advance from the first of three rounds of debate.

This bill, Aguilar said, “could be one of the greatest public policies in the state of Nebraska in 40 years.”

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.