Sen. Russ Karpisek brought up an old argument at the Nebraska Legislature Health and Human Services committee hearing Friday when he introduced an amendment to the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act, a statewide ban on smoking in indoor public places and places of employment.
The senator, of Wilber, said he introduced the amendment in part to right what he saw as a wrong move by the Legislature last year.
Two years ago, the proposed Clean Indoor Air Act was deadlocked at the end of the legislative session. In order to move the bill along, legislators proposed an amendment to allow cities and towns to opt out and make their own decisions about smoking indoors.
The next year, after the attorney general had confirmed the constitutionality of the amendment, Sen. Joel Johnson of Kearney changed his mind and reintroduced the bill without the amendment.
The statewide ban passed, and starting on June 1, 2009, no one will be able smoke in a place of employment or in a public place.
“This bill should be reported out of committee before you leave today, so (the) Legislature has a chance to rectify what was just a really bad deal,” Karpisek said at the hearing. “Lincoln and Omaha got to vote (on a smoking ban) and the rest of the state is getting it shoved on them.”
Karpisek introduced his amendment, LB611, with the exact same language as Sen. Johnson’s original compromise. With his bill, Karpisek hopes to provide cities, villages and counties the authority to regulate smoking. He also hopes to remove what he sees as a violation of private property rights.
Sen. Tim Gay of Papillion, chairman of the committee that heard the bill, tried to limit the discussion to the opt-out provision, in an attempt to avoid rehearing all the same arguments about the pros and cons of smoking bans.
Gay had to remind even himself of his rule, however, as multiple times the discussion turned to reviewing the circumstances of how the Clean Indoor Air Act passed.
Proponents of the bill testified for small-town communities, saying that it would give local governments more freedom to decide whether people should be able to smoke at a local bar or restaurant.
“Where should this decision be made? It’s a different world in Omaha than the rest of the state,” said Paul Schumacher, a former community organizer who worked in Western Nebraska. “That decision may be different when that bar is one of your last threads of survival.”
Opponents countered with the argument that weakening the smoking ban will weaken protection from second-hand smoke.
“The Clean Indoor Air Act is a simple, strong and fair law,” said Kathy Burson, co-executive director of PRIDE-Omaha. “Every employee deserves the right to breathe clean air.”
At the end of the hearing, Karpisek was not optimistic about his bill’s chances, but stood by his decision to reintroduce the compromise.
“This was my one last shots,” he said after the hearing. “I think it deserved to be heard.”
jennagibson@dailynebraskan.com
