Local smoke control stalls

Legislature postpones debate on two bills

By Richard Locker
Contact
March 15, 2006

NASHVILLE -- The Tennessee legislature began its annual dance over restoring local control of smoking in restaurants Tuesday, postponing debate on bills sought by Germantown and other cities for a week.

At the urging of the tobacco industry, the legislature in 1994 banned cities and counties from enacting ordinances prohibiting smoking in restaurants, leaving restaurants free to adopt their own policies.

Germantown began asking the legislature in 2004 to restore local control on the issue. Since then, Memphis and 14 other West Tennessee towns and counties have adopted resolutions in support of repealing the state ban.

The bills have never made it out of committees in either the House or Senate.

On Tuesday, Rep. Paul Stanley, R-Germantown, asked the House Agriculture Committee to defer for one week his two bills restoring local control. The committee then asked Rep. Jim Hackworth, D-Clinton, to postpone a separate bill that would ban smoking in restaurants across the state, so the bills can be debated at the same time.

Down the hall, the Senate State and Local Government Committee also deferred for a week the Senate version of the Hackworth bill. Several Anderson County High School students spoke in both committees in favor of banning restaurant smoking, citing a higher incidence of smoking-related deaths among bar and restaurant workers who must breathe second-hand smoke on the job.

Stanley asked the House panel to defer his bills to give the Tennessee Municipal League and Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy a chance to make their cases here next week.

But he said he doubts the bills have more than one or two votes for passage in the 15-member committee.

Stanley told the committee he supports smokers' rights and Tennessee's status as a top tobacco-producing state. "I don't want to take away anyone's right to smoke. You already can't smoke a pipe or cigar in many restaurants, at the restaurant's initiative. As long as we're all dining inside together, wouldn't it be reasonable to ask that we have a smoke-free environment and those who want to smoke do so at their own convenience but not where others are eating?"

Mayor Goldsworthy said she will discuss with Stanley "about how we can best present our position to the committee and others in the General Assembly. We would hope the legislation would have appeal to other municipalities. And probably our best efforts immediately would be to see if we can find that support so that it isn't just a few cities in Tennessee seeking this relief."

The bills are backed by anti-smoking health groups. "The legislature must take measures to protect people from second-hand smoke because it is very hazardous to health," said Jeanette Schatz, executive director of Campaign for a Healthy and Responsible Tennessee, or CHART. "Exposure to second-hand smoke is a known killer and claims thousands of Tennesseans every year, including many people who don't even smoke."

Contact Nashville bureau chief Richard Locker at (615) 255-4923.

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