Committee hearing set for indoor smoking ban

The fight for clean air in the new Legislative session begins to move forward when the House Regulatory Reform Committee meets to discuss an indoor smoking ban that includes bars and restaurants on Wednesday.

According to subscription only MIRS, Committee Chair Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, wants to “stage a series of hearings on the controversial issue before drafting a bill.” The hearing is set for noon on Wednesday March 18 in room 326 in the House Office Building at 124 N. Capitol in Lansing. The meeting is open to the public.

The important public health issue passed both the House and Senate last year, but the Conference Committee assigned to work out the differences between the two bills failed to reach a compromise before session ended on Dec. 30 and died. The House passed version had exceptions for Detroit casinos and so-called cigar bars, and the Senate version had no exceptions.

It was the Detroit area lawmakers who favored the casino exception under the mistaken belief it will hurt business and cost jobs, but two Michigan studies have proved that’s simply not true.

Johnson already has four bills in the Senate to choose from and one in the Senate. Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc, has introduced House Bill 4099; Rep. Dian Slavens, D-Canton, has introduced HB 4196; Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing – the co-chair of the Anti-Smoking Caucus – has introduced HB 4341; Rep. Lee Gonzales, D-Flint Township, has introduced HB 4377; and Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, - the co-chair of the Anti-Smoking Caucus –has introduced Senate Bill 114.

I urge the thousands of supporters to come out and attend the hearing to show your support for this important public issue that will save the lives of the majority of people who do not smoke. It’s important to get a ban in place even if it has a few exceptions to begin with.

New study says secondhand smoke may raise the risk of dementia

We already know secondhand smoke causes lung cancer, heart attacks, asthma, stroke, inner ear infections and other afflictions, but a new study just released says secondhand smoke may raise the risk of dementia or similar cognitive problems.

Do we need any more evidence to get the indoor smoking ban, including bars and restaurants, approved in Michigan? Study after study has come out on the harmful and deadly effects of secondhand smoke, but a small minority in the Michigan Legislature continues to drag their feet. Second-hand smoke is the single, greatest environmental hazard most people face.

The research was just published last week in the British Medical Journal, and it showed that people exposed to high levels of secondhand smoke faced a 44 percent increase in their risk of cognitive impairment compared with people exposed to low levels. This latest research reinforces earlier research that suggests that secondhand smoke exposure affects children's cognitive development.

Long-time smoking ban advocate Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, picked up where he left off in December with the introduction of Senate Bill 114 last month. Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc, introduced the House version, House Bill 4099.

Basham introduces Senate version of workplace smoking ban

LANSING – The fight for healthy air began in the Senate with the introduction of Senate Bill 114 in the Senate today that bans smoking in workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

The bill was, as anticipated, was introduced by Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor. The bill has bipartisan support, and its co-sponsors include Democratic Senators Gilda Jacobs, Liz Brater, Michael Switalski and John Gleason. It also includes Republican Senators Bruce Patterson, Patricia Birkholz, Cameron Brown and Tom George, a medial doctor.

One reason the bill was derailed last session was because Detroit area House members declined to support a bill that did not include an exception for casinos that passed out of the Senate because they were under the mistaken belief that the ban would hurt business and cost jobs to the Detroit casinos. But the fact is study after study from the 34 states that have such a ban demonstrated that there is no drop-off in business, and in many cases business improves.

In that vain, the bill's co-sponsors also includes Detroit area Senators Hansen Clarke, Martha Scott and Tupac Hunter.

Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc, introduced the House version, House Bill 4099, last week.

The fight for healthy lungs begins anew with introduction of workplace smoking ban

LANSING -- The fight to enact a workplace smoking ban, including bars and restaurants, in the 95th Legislative session began Thursday when freshman Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc, introduced House Bill 4099.

It was a short session that saw little more than the introduction of bills with just a few lawmakers present, and 119 bills were introduced at the end of the session by the House Clerk. The bill has bipartisan support with both Democratic and Republican co-sponsors; Reps. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-South Lyon, Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and Rebekah Warren, D-Warren, and Republican Reps. James Marleau, R-Lake Orion, Richard Ball, R- Bennington Twp., Matt Lori, R-Constantine, and Kevin Daley, R-Arcadia Township.

The bill was referred to the Commerce Committee instead of the more appropriate Health Policy Committee, but that was where it was approved out of during the last session. The chair of that committee, Rep. Andy Meisner, D-Ferndale, was term-limited. The make up of the House standing Committees have not been announced.

Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, who has championed the workplace smoking ban for the past 10 years, is expected to introduce the Senate version as early as next week.

Work on popular bipartisan workplace smoking ban already beginning

It has been less than a month since the bill enacting a workplace smoking ban in Michigan, including bars and restaurants, died on the last day of the 94th Congress when the Republican members of the conference committee - formed to come up with a compromise between the total ban approved by the Senate and the House-approved version that exempted casinos and others – refused to consider a compromise, but work has already begun to enact the ban this year.

The 95th Congress will not begin until Wednesday, but incoming freshman Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc, told subscription only Capitol newsletter Gongwer he planned to introduce the bill when the new session opens Wednesday. The sponsor of the bill last year, Rep. Brenda Clack, D-Flint, was term-limited. The move by Scott really illustrates support for the smoking ban is bipartisan. Scott is also making history as the first African-American Republican in the House since 1904.

Scott told Gongwer he talked with thousands of local residents during the last few months and there is steadfast support for a smoking ban.

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, the man who has championed the cause for the past decade, Sen. Ray Basham D-Taylor, plans to not only introduce the Senate version of the bill, but he plans to form a bicameral, bipartisan anti-smoking caucus, asking all lawmakers to sign a pledge that they will work on the smoking ban issue.

Basham said he was both elated and disappointed at the progress of the bill this session. It had never before even been allowed an up or down vote, but he was disapointed that it did not passes, despite a majority of lawmakers in both bodies voting for it. Shortly after the bill died on Dec. 19 he sent out a letter to supporters of the ban all across the state saying he will push a ballot initiative if necessary.

"If the Legislature won’t take action on behalf of the people, I’ll see to it that we put this issue on the ballot and before the voters," he said.

Basham has a network of supporters of the ban from all over the state; collected from people signing his smoke free dinning petition, and he said the list of lawmakers who sign the pledge will be made public, as will the list of legislators who don't sign the pledge.