Matthew Tully Article

In today's Indianapolis Star, Matthew Tully pens a great article on the need to make Indianapolis completely smoke free, that we are falling behind many other places that already have smoke free air laws. He brings up a good point when he mentions that those visitors who will be coming here for the Super Bowl will most likely be coming from a city or state that is already smoke free. What will they think when they come to a place where we favor 23% of the population over the health of our workers and the 77% that does not smoke? It will be interesting to see what happens this upcoming election with the known support of Melina Kennedy for smoke free air and the denial that it is even an issue by Mayor Ballard.

Matthew Tully's article reminds me of the YouTube video produced in 2009 by the American Lung Association on what happened to the then Proposal 371 with the Mayor's intervention.

In other news, HB 1018 the smoke free air bill will be heard for a vote today in the Public Health committee at 3:30 p.m. in the House Chambers. The bill is expected to pass but will probably include exemptions for casinos and cigar bars. We of course would want the bill to cover all workplaces, but it is a long legislative session so we will have to wait to see how it all plays out.