Smoke Gets In My Eyes,...

Bill Seeks Statewide Smoking Ban

By Brodie Farquhar, 1-13-07

About time.

House Bill 141l has been introduced in the Wyoming Legislature to ban smoking in all public places, across the state.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, and combines elements of a Colorado statewide ban and the Cheyenne citywide smoking ban. Zwonitzer is a smart, independent legislator you should keep your eyes on. He's lined up 16 co-sponsors and faces some stiff lobbying that will strive for amendments designed to weaken the bill, or allow exemptions for bars and restaurants.

Last year, the pro-tobacco business lobbyists were a formidable bunch, led by Dan Sullivan (former legislator and brother to Gov. Mike Sullivan) and Dave Picard, plus allies in the bar and restaurant industry. They defeated a tax-hike on tobacco products.

Nationally, one of every two Americans live in a state or city with laws to keep the workplace smoke-free. Restaurant and bar organizations are losing the PR/lobbying fight, because their worries about loss of business have been proved, again and again, to be empty. In sharp contrast, science has proved, again and again, that even a few minutes of breathing someone else's smoke is harmful, and that separate smoking sections don't offer enough protection.

(And guess who promotes separate smoking sections and the air handling systems that really don't work? Yep, the tobacco industry.) Rather disingenuously, tobacco, restaurant and bar lobbyists mouth pious platitudes about leaving the decision to local government, about personal and business rights. Bull. This is a public health issue and lives are at stake.

Oh, and just for grins, you'll want to check out the latest comic adventures of Dana in the strip Non Sequiter, where she's learning about the joys and wonders of tobacco lobbying. And if you're reaaaaaaallllllly motivated (say, if you've lost a family member or two to tobacco-linked diseases) you might want to send some recent Non Sequiter comics to your Wyoming state representatives and senators, ask them to support Zwonitzer's bill and give the cold-shoulder to tobacco, restaurant and bar lobbyists in Cheyenne.

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