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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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NE State Smoking Ban Bill Fails [05/02-4]
Excerpts from: Statewide smoking ban measure fails
By Nate Jenkins Lincoln Journal Star [05/01/05]
A new smoking ban in the state's capital city did nothing to persuade lawmakers in the capital building Wednesday that tight restrictions are the best thing for all corners of Nebraska.
After another three hours of heated and often meandering debate, state senators voted 19-26 to nix a proposed statewide ban on smoking in many workplaces, keeping Lincoln as the only place in the state with a strict no-smoking law.
After the vote, Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island lingered on the floor where senators had just made their decision. In a year where some lawmakers may feel liberated from normal political concerns because of term limits that will push them out the door, anti-tobacco advocates such as Aguilar had hope.
"I thought we had a real good opportunity to get something done this year," said Aguilar, who had picked the bill as his priority. "Sadly, we didn't."
The last time the full Legislature voted on a similar smoking ban, in 2001, it was shot down with a 19-29 vote. In 2000, there were more votes in favor than against — the final tally was 23-19 — but not the required 25 votes.
Introduced by Sen. Nancy Thompson of Papillion, LB480 was similar to those and other previous, and failed, statewide plans. Her bill would have banned smoking in many workplaces, including restaurants, but exempted bars that served just snacks or other foods that don't require preparation.
Leading up to Wednesday's final vote, Thompson agreed to some concessions she thought might garner enough support for the bill. Among them was an amendment to allow smoking in bars where minors are permitted. It was approved, but the centerpiece to her compromise plan failed.
Under it, smoking would have been permitted for the next decade in restaurants that offered keno. The smoking-law status quo also would have been maintained in restaurants at racetracks not located on state property, such as Fonner Park in Grand Island.
Opponents of a statewide ban, however, weren't tempted to Thompson's side by the amendment.
"It appears to be a compromise that makes a bad bill worse," said Sen. Adrian Smith of Gering.
It sent an illogical message, said Smith, that smoking in a public place is suddenly appropriate if it is mixed with gambling.
Sen. Pat Bourne of Omaha emerged as the most adamant opponent of the bill, mainly on the basis that it amounted to unneeded government intrusion. He often pointed to testimony from business owners, provided weeks ago during a committee hearing on the bill, that the Lincoln ban had hurt their bottom lines.
"Government should stay out of people's lives as much as possible," Bourne said.
Immediately before the final vote, Thompson pleaded with her colleagues to remember the people, such as children with asthma, who would be helped by a smoking ban. She seemed to concede defeat, however, by admitting during closing remarks the bill probably wasn't going to pass.
She belittled other senators' references to studies they said show secondhand smoke isn't as much of a health hazard as originally believed.
"We all know it's not good to breathe other people's smoke," she said.
"It's like peeing in a swimming pool. You can't control where it goes."
The future of pro-ban initiatives from state lawmakers is now more uncertain than it has been in years because Thompson, the most persistent anti-tobacco senator in the Legislature, is leaving at the end of this session before her full term is up.
"For the short-term, of course we'll concentrate on local ordinances, then figure out the lay of the land" at the legislative level, said David Holmquist of the American Cancer Society in Nebraska. Grand Island is one city now considering a smoking ban; a vote there is expected this spring.
An increasingly organized coalition of smoke-ban supporters in the state could wait until 2007 before making another push in the Legislature.
"Once term limits kick in and once we have a whole new cast of characters," Holmquist said, "it could make a difference."
Aguilar said there could be a bill introduced that would require restaurants to hang signs announcing whether or not they allow smoking.
"So people can make decisions before they even walk in the door, and somehow influence the market, Aguilar said.
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