Butt out: Pa. bill looks to end smoking in all public places

Sep. 20—HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania law limiting smoking in public spaces would become far more strict through a bill proposed in the state House that seeks to eliminate all current exemptions including for bars, private clubs and on casino gaming floors.

The proposed update to the Clean Indoor Air Act attempts to limit smoking even in one's own home or vehicle. If either is "used at any time" as a workplace or for adult- or child-care services or related professional services, smoking would be prohibited under the bill's terms.

Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, chair of the House Health Committee, introduced House Bill 1657 as a way to further protect workers from the proven health hazards of secondhand smoke. The measure would add electronic cigarettes under the existing ban and would allow local municipalities to enact smoke-free ordinances more strict than minimums set within state law.

Opponents say the measure would crush small businesses within and adjacent to the tobacco industry, particularly cigar bars, and that workers at exempted sites assume the risk of exposure to secondhand smoke and can seek different accommodations.

Citing a U.S. surgeon general's report from 2014, the American Lung Association says secondhand smoke causes approximately 7,330 deaths from lung cancer and 33,950 deaths from heart disease each year. The cost to the economy from lost productivity due to secondhand smoke is estimated by the report at $5.6 billion.

During a Health Committee hearing on the bill Wednesday, Frankel said he's "sensitive" to the potential effect the revisions would have on business but stressed the priority of protecting workers' health.

"There was a time you could smoke at the pediatrician's office. You could smoke on an airplane. We banned it in restaurants in 2008. Each time, some section of the public objected and then they adjusted," Frankel said. "Those minor adjustments from consumers made a big difference to workers."

Passed into law in 2008, the Clean Indoor Air Act generally prohibits smoking tobacco in public spaces. There are limited exemptions including for cigar bars, private social clubs and bars where annual revenue from food sales doesn't exceed 20%.

Jennifer Rubolino, a table games dealer at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, is a founding member of the Pennsylvania chapter of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE). Workers on gaming floors are exposed to tobacco smoke throughout their shifts, she stressed, adding that several wear masks to help protect themselves. She said her casino accommodated her request to work in a smoke-free area but that smoke still wafts into such areas.

Simply quitting work to go to a smoke-free workplace isn't so simple, she said, noting that it would disrupt health insurance and retirement benefits.

Greg Fox is co-owner and an executive of New Global Marketing, which owns and operates three different cigar businesses in Drums — two online sales operations and a high-end cigar pub. He estimated the three businesses have 100 workers combined, describing the jobs as family-sustaining.

There are no taxes on cigars like there are on cigarettes, part of the reason New Global Marketing relocated from New York years ago. It might relocate again, he said, should the proposed bill become law. He told lawmakers to consider the economic ramifications, estimating from 50% to 70% of all cigars sold in the U.S. "pass-through Pennsylvania" because of the "friendly business environment here." To test those cigars, he said, they have to be smoked. That would be prohibited under the bill proposal.

Fox said he couldn't recall a single complaint from employees concerning secondhand smoke, saying under lawmakers' questioning that working in such an environment is a choice.

"What effect would this bill have on those small, locally owned shops where you can go in and smoke cigars," Rep. David Rowe, R-Snyder/Union/Juniata/Mifflin, asked.

"They'd all be out of business," Fox replied.

Bill McQuade, treasurer of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers Society, said the organization supports the stricter smoking ban. He said no air handling system or ventilation system can fully eliminate the health risks of secondhand smoke whether or not certain areas of a building are fully segregated.

Anthony Taormina of the Bowling Proprietors Association of Pennsylvania said smoking is eliminated in bowling centers already and that the proposed bill would ban smoking on outdoor decks and patios, too. He invested $500,000 in a patio recently at his own operation and others have made similar investments.

"We have customers who come to us for the sole reason they can sit down and have a cigarette outside and enjoy it. We will lose those customers, they will stay home," he said.

John Getz Jr., state adjutant for the Pennsylvania Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the organization supports the broader ban and that roughly 90 of the group's approximate 420 clubs have enacted local smoking bans. Not all local clubs are on board, however, and the issue is divisive on the local level, he said.

Ultimately, he said, it's "better for our veterans" to have a clean air environment.