NJ lawmakers take step to ban smoking on casino floors in Atlantic City

After nearly two decades of languishing in committee, a bill that would ban smoking on Atlantic City casino floors could soon be headed for a full Senate vote.

The bill was expected by many to pass during the lame-duck session but never got a chance, as a handful of lawmakers withdrew support.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, chair of the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, said the vote to advance the bill is a step in the right direction.

Testimony during the hearing was by invited speakers only but did represent organizations both in favor of and opposed to the bill.

Nicole Vitola, a casino dealer, said she was shown no sympathy or accommodations while she was pregnant and that the only way casinos will do the right think is if they are forced by law to protect their employees.

“By allowing casino workers to be exposed to deadly secondhand smoke, you are knowingly allowing social inequalities, health disparities and injustices to exist in our state,” she said. “It is the duty of the New Jersey Legislature to make sure that every single worker in this state has a right to a clean, safe and healthy workplace free from toxic smoke.”

Vitola said that although there has again been talk of a compromise bill, “18 years has been a compromise that our lives can no longer afford.”

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Christina Renna of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey spoke in opposition to a full smoking ban, saying the “argument needs to be reframed” and that a smoking ban can’t be considered just in a “vacuum of health and safety.”

She said there are jobs on the line, because no one can fully predict what comes next, but that people should be able to have their chosen jobs.

Renna reiterated multiple times throughout her testimony that there is a smoking-friendly casino just across the bridge in Pennsylvania.

Bill sponsor Sen. Shirley Turner said she has received “hundreds and hundreds” of emails and letters and phone calls from casino workers during the last 17 years, “begging for a ban on smoking in casinos.”

“Workers shouldn’t have to decide between their health and their job,” Turner said. “That’s not America.”

Though testimony throughout the hearing elicited responses and shouts from the standing-room-only crowd in attendance, when the bill was cleared after more than an hour of testimony, the decision was met with raucous applause and cheers.

The bill had full support from Democrats. Republican Sen. Robert Singer voted against, and Sens. Holly Schepisi and Owen Henry abstained. Two committee members had scheduling conflicts, so Sen. Andrew Zwicker sat in for Sen. Angela McKnight and Sen. Shirley Turner sat in for Sen. Troy Singleton.

The proposed legislation was introduced in response to a 2006 state law that guarantees smoke-free workplaces but made casinos an exemption. It has stalled out year after year but gained traction as the last legislative session came to a close.

The bill has 18 sponsors in the Senate and 38 in the Assembly. Notable exceptions are Senate President Nick Scutari and Speaker Craig Coughlin ― the people who ultimately control the docket for a voting session in their respective chambers.

Smoking is permitted on about 20% of a casino floor in Atlantic City. A temporary ban was implemented at the height of the pandemic, but smoking returned when Murphy lifted it.

A report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said casino workers are exposed to "hazardous levels of toxic secondhand smoke at work" that "increased in the body as the shift went on," and it recommended "making all casinos 100% smokefree to ensure indoor air within casinos is safe to breathe."

The report also said workers are at "great risk to the health hazards caused by secondhand smoke, including heart disease, lung cancer, and acute and chronic respiratory illnesses."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Atlantic City NJ casinos could soon be smoke free