Smoking limits stay alive in Assembly

Kirsten Searer

Friday, March 18, 2005 | 8:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Legislators declined last week to vote on two initiatives designed to curb public smoking, but Assembly members still have a chance to limit smoking laws.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee on Thursday heard Assembly Bill 118, which prohibits child care facilities with five or more children from having smoking areas unless the facility is a personal residence.

It also bans smoking in video arcades.

The bill is not as expansive as the two initiative petitions that went before the Judiciary Committee last week. The committee decided to table the initiatives, effectively sending them for a public vote in 2006.

But some legislators have talked about increasing the regulations in AB118 so they could enact immediate smoking laws without waiting for the initiative process.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said some members have told her they would like to strengthen the bill. But while she said she would like to change smoking laws -- such as prohibiting smoking in grocery stores -- she said she is unsure if she wants to amend AB118.

Assemblyman Garn Mabey, R-Las Vegas, who is a doctor, said he also thought about asking to add more smoking regulations to the bill but was concerned that would cause it to stall in the Senate.

The bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, asked the committee to avoid adding measures into the bill because it could motivate opponents to smoking bans. McClain is chairwoman for the Task Force for the Fund for a Healthy Nevada, which is supporting the bill.

The Assembly passed a similar measure to AB118 in 2003, but it died in the Senate, Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, pointed out.

This year, however, various business interests have expressed support for AB 118 as it stands now. Representatives of the Nevada Retail Gaming Association, Herbst Gaming Inc., the Nevada Restaurant Association, the Retail Association of Nevada and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce all endorsed the bill and said they would push it in the Senate.

Buffy Martin, who represented the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association, said that second-hand smoke is one of the leading causes of asthma in children. She said Nevada ranks number one in childhood asthma cases.

"While we do support AB118 we also believe it does not go far enough toward protecting our children," she said.