HB1213 Update

Today the House of Representatives Public Policy committee voted to move HB1213 to the full House of Representatives. But before they made that decision they added a series of anti-public health exemptions to the bill.
The exemptions include:
--Hotel rooms designated for smoking.
--Tobacco stores.
--A tobacco bar.
--Private clubs.
--Bars who have no customers or workers under 18.
--Casinos, although they would be required to have a least 20 percent of gaming positions designated as non-smoking.

The bill also includes preemption language that would prevent a local entity such as Indianapolis from passing a stronger law.

Smoke free air laws are about the health of the worker, no one should have to choose between their health or their job. But with this new version of the bill they are essentially making Indiana workers choose to earn a living doing something they enjoy (bartending, casino dealer, waitress, etc.) or their health. Most white collar workers in Indiana already work in healthy smoke free environment, why should we force some to make this decision.

Please take a moment to contact your local Representative to ask them to remove these exemptions and to make all places in Indiana smoke free.

Also in today's Indianapolis Star, Sheri Rudavsky did a good job analyzing why smoke free air laws to do not hurt businesses economically.