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Area legislators' bills deal with smoking, forced sterilization
Holliman wants smoking ban in indoor workplaces
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Published: January 30, 2009
RALEIGH - A powerful state legislator from Lexington is renewing his push to ban smoking in all indoor workplaces in North Carolina.
The ban, if passed by the General Assembly, would apply to restaurants, bars, office buildings and virtually any other place that employs workers or is open to the public.
It faces a tough fight in the legislature, where tobacco interests hold a lot of sway. But in recent years, momentum has grown toward tobacco restrictions that once would have been unthinkable in North Carolina, the nation's largest tobacco-producing state.
In both 2005 and 2007, Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, filed legislation to drastically restrict smoking in restaurants and other places. His bills were narrowly defeated both times on the floor of the N.C. House of Representatives. He says he thinks that he can win over a few more "yes" votes this year and filed a new bill Wednesday.
"The debate is over," Holliman said yesterday. "As the surgeon general has said time and time again, there's no safe exposure to secondhand smoke."
Holliman, a survivor of lung cancer, is the House majority leader. He and other supporters described his bill as a public-health imperative that also makes economic sense, because healthier workers would mean lower health-care costs.
Some critics oppose the bill because they see it as a government intrusion on individuals' choices.
And some business advocates say they would prefer that the government continue to allow each business to set its own smoking rules based on the demands of the marketplace.
Even without legislation, a growing number of restaurants are voluntarily banning smoking, said Paul Stone, the president and chief executive of the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association.
"Right now it's up to the business owner and the consumer to make that choice," Stone said, adding that his group would prefer that things stay that way.
"But we also know that it's inevitable that smoking bans are coming," he said. "We want to make sure that, if there is one coming, it's as fair as possible to the industry."
For now, Stone said, the restaurant association does not oppose Holliman's bill, because the ban would apply evenly to all restaurants and bars. Two years ago, Holliman's bill contained an exemption for "private clubs," which mostly consist of bars that do not serve food and charge a nominal membership fee.
Reynolds American Inc. does not generally oppose smoking bans in places open to the general public, such as restaurants, but the company does believe that states should permit smoking in age-restricted businesses, a spokeswoman for the tobacco company said.
"We generally like to see smoking restrictions that permit adult-only facilities like bars, nightclubs, taverns, to have the right to determine for themselves what smoking policy works best for their clientele," said Maura Payne, the Reynolds spokeswoman.
Twenty-three states ban smoking in all or most restaurants and bars, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In recent years, legislators in North Carolina have steadily narrowed the list of places where smoking is permitted in the state. Recent laws have banned smoking inside prisons, state government buildings and adult-care homes.
But Holliman's bill would be by far the most restrictive.
Holliman acknowledged yesterday that the bill could hurt the state's tobacco industry and could cause some establishments to lose business.
But he health hazards of secondhand smoke are too grave to ignore, he said.
"The health concerns far outweigh the concerns of any impact on economics," he said. "We're all certainly aware of jobs that we need -- and need to keep -- but I think the health concerns far outweigh the need of those jobs."
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