A good law getting snuffed out

Amy Beaulieu

Sunday, June 12, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

The final passage of Assembly Bill 571 in the dark of the night, hours before the 76th session of the Legislature ended, shows once again that special interest groups that can hire high-powered lobbyists win because money talks. Nevada is now the first state in the country to roll back its smoking law — the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act.

Polling conducted on behalf of the American Lung Association in Nevada in February shows support for the 2006 Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act is extremely strong, with 83 percent of voters saying they support the law. By nearly an 8-to-1 margin, Nevada voters believe the rights of customers and employees to breathe clean air in restaurants and bars outweigh the rights of smokers to smoke in those places.

The nationwide recession was responsible for job losses or business closings in the bar and tavern industry, not the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act. Data compiled from the Nevada Department of Taxation and the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation showed the economic recession that hit Nevadans so hard began five months before the Clean Indoor Air Act was passed by voters and enacted into law.

Now, despite no changes to the state’s no-smoking law for restaurants and taverns that serve food, taxable sales for food services and drinking places are experiencing increases.

This new legislation is fundamentally flawed. It allows for age-restricted bars, taverns and saloons to open their kitchens back up and allow smoking at the same time. Anyone can declare their property “age restricted” and put a sign on the door.

Both major health districts testified that this bill is not enforceable because they have no jurisdiction over age restrictions, and law enforcement testified they will not write a ticket for this. It will be impossible to distinguish one type of stand-alone bar from another or from a restaurant. Who will keep an eye on these new smoking havens for violations?

People shouldn’t have to risk their health to earn a paycheck. Many who have enjoyed working in a smoke-free environment will have to choose between working in a toxic, smoke-filled environment or no job at all.

Smoking causes lung cancer, emphysema and death. Breathing secondhand smoke does the same.

Without a strong smoke-free law, Nevada will leave our families and friends exposed to secondhand smoke — especially restaurant and bar employees, blue-collar workers and often the youngest members of our workforce.

It has been scientifically proven that approaches such as air ventilation systems and designated smoking sections do not eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. Science also tells us there is no safe level of secondhand smoke.

Our already overburdened health care system will see a rise in emergency room visits due to conditions aggravated by secondhand smoke exposure by employees.

A recent study by UNR showed that since enactment of the Clean Indoor Air Act, hospital admissions for stroke and myocardial events have gone down significantly, resulting in a decrease of $33.3 million in hospital charges, including $1.5 million to Medicaid payers and $11.5 million to Medicare payers. In the period following the implementation of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act in 2007, researchers found that hospital admissions for heart attack decreased by 346 and for stroke by 315 annually due to the ban.

Where do we go from here?

The people have spoken before and they will speak again — at the ballot for elected officials who did not listen to their constituents and with their wallets as they show their support for taverns and bars that remain smoke free.

This has always been a grass-roots effort and it will be again. Maybe the people should turn their attention away from the Legislature, which flagrantly disregarded the will of the people and used the Clean Indoor Air Act as a bargaining chip with special interest groups, and turn toward their city councils and county commissions so they pass stronger local laws.

Amy Beaulieu is director of Tobacco Control Policy for the American Lung Association in Nevada.