Basic Info

Name:: Ban Smoking in N.C.'s Public Places
Category:: Common Interest -
Description:: Let's continue the fight to eliminate smoking in the workplaces and public places of North Carolina. Please see the latest news about the Bill Banning Smoking in N.C.'s Public Places. This bill now moves on to the Senate. Contact your Senator to let them know that the health of our youth is as important as the health of the adults in North Carolina.

Go to the following link, find your county then click on your senator for contact info.

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate

PLEASE take the time to do this for the sake of all North Carolinians.

Please help by sending this group request to all of your North Carolinian friends.

You can also sign a petition by clicking on the website link.

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To take part all you have to do is:

1 Join this group.

2 Go to http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57664917245

2 Click on "Invite People to Join" from the menu on the right.

3 Select all your friends that live in N.C.

4 Click on "Send invitation"

It's that simple.

Thank you for taking the time to support this important cause. (read less)
Let's continue the fight to eliminate smoking in the workplaces and public places of North Carolina. Please see the latest news about the Bill Banning Smoking in N.C.'s Public Places. This bill now moves on to the Senate. Contact your Senator to let them know that the health of our youth is as important as the health of the adults in North Carolina.

Go to the following link, find your county then click on your senator for contact... (read more)
Privacy Type:: Open: All content is public.

Contact Info

Email:
Website:: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Bansm...
Location:: Apex, NC

Recent News

News:: N.C. Senate clears smoking ban in restaurants, bars
Cigarette smoking

Posted: May. 11 4:06 a.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The state Senate on Monday gave final approval of a smoking ban in nearly all restaurants and bars.

The Senate voted 30-18 in favor of the measure that next returns to the state House, which passed a broader version last month and where bills that made similar attacks on secondhand smoking have died twice since 2005.

“We're preserving the rights of people who don't smoke. That is what we're doing. They have a right too,” said Sen. William Purcell, D-Anson, a supporter of the smoking ban.

The House version would ban smokers from places where children under age 18 visit or work. That would have allowed smoking in self-standing lounges but banned it from restaurants with bar sections.

The bill's primary sponsor said he believes House members will support some kind of smoking ban and expects it will probably be a negotiated compromise with the Senate.

"The thing we (House members) are most disappointed with is not protecting the workplace. But we have got a bill now that we can work with and move North Carolina forward," Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, a two-time lung cancer survivor and House majority leader.

Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, was among those members who voted against the ban. He said it violates a property owner's constitutional right.

"Our constitution guarantees the right of people to use their property in anyway (legally) they see fit," Hunt said.

Both chambers would have to vote again on a final version.

“I think if we make the bill any weaker than what we have in the Senate – we won't have much of a bill,” Purcell said.

If North Carolina's smoking ban is approved this year, the state would become the 35th – and perhaps one of the most unlikely – to join a national trend of segregating the one in five Americans who smoke.

For decades, the state's politicians protected both cigarette makers and the thousands of tobacco growers whose crop was worth $686 million to North Carolina farmers in 2008 – nearly half the value of the entire U.S. output and 80 percent more than the next largest producer.

But times are changing. A recent Elon University poll found about two-thirds of North Carolinians backed a ban on public smoking indoors, and eight in 10 said they consider secondhand smoke a threat to their health.

Purcell said second-hand smoke cost the state $269 million a year in health-related costs.

From WRAL:

Senators tentatively back statewide smoking ban
Bill would ban smoking in public spaces in N.C.

Posted: May 7th 2:05 p.m.
Updated: May 7th at 2:29 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. — All restaurants and bars in North Carolina would have to immediately ban smoking under legislation given preliminary approval by the Senate.

The statewide smoking ban was tentatively approved Thursday by a vote of 26-18. A final Senate vote could come next week. The House approved another version of the bill last month.

Sen. Bill Purcell of Scotland County said the prohibition would protect patrons and employees from secondhand smoke.

Senators in tobacco-producing areas opposed the legislation, saying the state shouldn't be telling merchants how to run their businesses.

The bill is not as restrictive as an earlier Senate version that would have extended the ban to all work sites.

Smoking ban narrowed in Senate committee
Bill would ban smoking in public spaces in N.C.

Posted: May 6th at 12:20 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Senate has again changed its mind on a broad smoking ban for North Carolina.

The Senate Health Care Committee voted Wednesday to prohibit smoking at all restaurants and bars. The new version of the bill leaves out expanding the ban to include all work sites.

Sen. Bill Purcell of Scotland County is the chief supporter of the bill. Purcell said the bill's scope was narrowed so it could get enough votes for passage in the Senate. The broader bill was withdrawn from the floor last week.

The measure creates exceptions for cigar bars, country clubs and similar private clubs.

Lorrilard Tobacco Co. lobbyist Michael Shannon said restaurants and bars should be able to make their own choice on whether to permit smokingN.C. House backs limits on smoking in public
Cigarette smoking

Posted: Apr. 1 5:54 p.m.
Updated: April 2 at 8:24 a.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A proposed law that would have banned smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, was watered down and tentatively approved in the House on Wednesday.

It is primarily a bill about the health of North Carolinians,” said House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, the bill's primary proponent and a lung cancer survivor.

Lawmakers voted 75-42 on Wednesday after an amendment was added that bars smoking in businesses that employ or serve anyone under age 18, but not other businesses. Smoking-friendly bars and restaurants would have to post that fact at every entrance.

Advocates said the legislation helps to eliminate the dangers of secondhand smoking.

"I am persuaded on the health issue, but I am even far more persuaded on the pure economics of the decision we have to make,” said Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland.

Opponents said the proposed law takes away a business owner's choice.

"That is his choice, (and) it's his property, it's his liberty, it's his health and it's his decision. It is not our decision,” said Rep. Johnathan Rhyne, R-Lincoln.

Other opponents said if you ban smoking, you should also ban fast food because that can cause obesity.

“This is hypocrisy. What you are doing is hypocrisy,” said Rep. Cary Allred, R-Alamance.

For decades, the state's politicians protected both cigarette makers and the thousands of tobacco growers whose crop was worth $686 million to North Carolina farmers in 2008 – nearly half the value of the entire U.S. output and 80 percent more than the next largest producer.

But times are changing. An Elon University poll last month found about two-thirds of North Carolinians backed a ban on public smoking indoors, and eight in 10 said they consider secondhand smoke a threat to their health.

A final House vote is scheduled on Thursday. If approved, the bill would move to the Senate.

From WRAL 5:

N.C. House committee approves public smoking ban
Cigarette Tax Increase Leads to Drop in Smoking

By EMERY P. DALESIO
Associated Press Writer

Posted: Feb. 26, 2009
Updated: Mar. 3, 2009

RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill to ban public smoking in the largest tobacco-growing state passed a North Carolina legislative committee Tuesday with bipartisan agreement that cigarette smoke harms health, though some Republicans chafed at what they saw as government meddling.

When a clear majority of North Carolina residents and lawmakers agree with scientific studies that secondhand smoking harms health, the Legislature is obliged to outlaw smoking in the workplace, said Rep. Wil Neumann, R-Gaston.

Doing otherwise "would be going against our oath to protect the health, welfare, and safety of the people of North Carolina," he told fellow members of the House Health Committee.

An Elon College poll of 758 state residents last week found eight in 10 said they consider secondhand smoke a threat to their health. Two-thirds of respondents said they support or strongly support a statewide law that would ban smoking in public buildings, offices, restaurants and bars. The House bill would also include all workplaces.

But Rep. Cary Allred, R-Alamance, doubted the harmful health effects of secondhand smoke, noting the spouses of his two smoking brothers and a stepfather appeared to suffer no serious illnesses. He argued the bill was a government intrusion into the business of restaurants and bars, which would lose patrons who smoke.

Like customers, hospitality workers "don't have to work there if they don't like the smoke," Allred said. "I think this bill goes entirely too far. There's too much intrusion. There's too much Gestapo atmosphere."

The committee approved the bill on a voice vote; it heads next to a House legal issues committee. Narrower legislation was defeated in the House in 2005 and 2007. A companion bill in the Senate has remained in a committee without action since it was introduced nearly two weeks ago.

The hearing included an emotional statement from Peg O'Connell, the widow of retired state insurance commissioner and former legislator Jim Long. She blamed the stroke that led to her husband's death last month on his decades-long smoking habit.

O'Connell said Long's years in politics included his share of smoke-filled rooms. He couldn't kick his nicotine addiction, but viewed restrictions on where he could smoke as helping him cut back, O'Connell said.

"As insurance commissioner, he saw the very expensive impact that smoking and secondhand smoke have on insurance costs," O'Connell said.

While North Carolina continues to rank first in U.S. tobacco production with 2007 market value of $550 million, the state's leading crop trails poultry and eggs at $4 billion and hogs at $3.1 billion among agricultural products.

Raleigh, N.C. — A North Carolina House leader says a smoking ban in restaurants, public places and indoor work sites would protect nonsmokers and vulnerable people from secondhand smoke.

House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman scheduled a news conference Thursday to discuss H.B. 2: Prohibit Smoking in Public & Work Places Act, which he filed on the General Assembly's opening day Wednesday.

Bill would ban smoking in public spaces in N.C.
WATCH VIDEO
Bill would ban smoking in public spaces in N.C.

Holliman says that second-hand smoke could be to blame for his two bouts with lung cancer and the death of his sister from the disease.

"As a state lawmaker, it is my job to improve the lives of the people of this state, and one clear way to do that is to eliminate smoking in the workplaces and public places of North Carolina," Holliman said in a release. "I propose this not as a simple matter of preference for the majority of us who are non-smokers. This is clearly nothing short of a threat to public health."

Co-sponsor Rep. Rich Glazier, D-Cumberland County, said annual health care costs associated with smoking in North Carolina are in the billions of dollars.

The bill would prohibit smoking in all enclosed public places and workplaces and would allow localities to pass stricter regulations.

The ban would not affect outdoor public places, but the bill would give localities the authority to enact such prohibition. Raleigh has sought permission from the General Assembly to ban smoking in city parks.

The bill would permit smoking in private residences – except those used for commercial child or adult care – and existing tobacco shops, manufacturing and processing facilities. Hotels and motels could allow smoking in up to 20 percent of their rooms.

A person violating the ban would be charged with an infraction and fined $50. A business would get written warnings from a local health department for the first two violations and a $200 fine for each subsequent violation.

The bill would become effective immediately after getting the governor's signature if it passes.

The House narrowly defeated a similar measure that Holliman proposed four years ago. It would have required restaurants to set aside most of their dining space for nonsmokers. A broader ban passed a committee in 2007, then stopped. Lawmakers have banned smoking in prisons and state-government buildings and vehicles.

Opponents of smoking bans say smoking is a personal lifestyle choice, and the government has no business butting in. They also point to tobacco manufacturing's vital role in North Carolina's history and economy.

Restaurant bans in other states have been met with opposition from many restaurant and bar owners, who say the bans would snuff out their businesses.

Supporters point to a recent study in which researchers found that heart-attack hospitalizations dropped 41 percent three years after Pueblo, Colo., enacted a public smoking ban. Two neighboring areas without a ban saw no significant decrease.

The study was the longest-running to look at the issue. However, researchers assumed but did not measure declines in the amount of secondhand smoke in Pueblo buildings. Researchers also did not sort out which heart attack patients were smokers and which were not, so it was unclear how much of the decline can be attributed to reduced secondhand smoke.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/4424307/

Video of Newscast
http://www.wral.com/news/state/video/4424682/

News article from the last time this type of bill was submitted and failed.

http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2007/north-carolina-smoking-ban.html

Logo for this group courtesy of David Hegarty flickr.com/photos/hegarty_david/2238134704/ via a Creative Commons license

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