UL article on Senate debate over smoking ban

[KBCraig]

Looks like Gatsas, Clegg and Morse are firmly against it, and the Finance committee will vote against the bill.


http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Smoking+ban+testimony+turns+emotional&articleId=dfd25466-e386-4341-ae22-445754f6e14b

Smoking ban testimony turns emotional

By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief

Concord ? A lung cancer patient who has never smoked urged a Senate committee yesterday to recommend passage of a bill that bans smoking in restaurants and bars.

Karen Lindquist, 33, of Hudson, a medical worker, said she has never smoked but was diagnosed with a form of cancer that smokers commonly develop.

?I will never be the same after what I have gone through. The medical bills, doctor visits and prescriptions alone have cost more than $100,000,? Lindquist said. ?If my story helps at least one person avoid the hell I have had to endure, I will have made my point.?

Lindquist then pulled off her wig, revealing a head left hairless by chemotherapy.

?I can?t change the past, but we can all change the future,? she said. Her testimony set off a rare round of applause in the hearing room, and left some daubing at their eyes.

Much of the debate on House Bill 1177 was a repeat of testimony that a House committee heard two months ago. The harmful effects of second-hand smoke ? including cancer, lung ailments and heart disease ? were disputed as junk science by some, as proven fact proven by others. Individual freedoms, and protection of workers and free capitalism also were argued.

The Senate Finance Committee plans to vote on the bill today. Senate President Ted Gatsas, R-Manchester, and Senate Majority Leader Robert Clegg, R-Hudson, appear to have the five votes needed to kill it. Clegg and committee chairman Sen. Chuck Morse, R-Salem, said it appears restaurants want the state to institute the ban because they are afraid to do it individually.

The House passed the bill by a 189-156 vote last week.

The prime sponsor, Rep. Sheila Francoeur, R-Hampton, said the issue is worker health. Restaurant and bar employees ?are exposed to the highest levels of second-hand smoke, and have the lowest levels of protection,? she said. ?Let?s face it: Second-hand smoke kills.?

Shawn Joyce, president and CEO of Margarita?s restaurants, said he would ban smoking if his board of directors would approve. He said he?s seen no business loss in any New England state that has banned smoking.

But committee members criticized him for allowing smoking to continue in most restaurants while he urges a statewide ban. Clegg questioned whether Margarita?s puts profits ahead of its workers health.

Courtney Otto, a Dartmouth College freshman, offered her own first-hand experience, holding a photo of her mother, a non-smoker who died of lung cancer from exposure to smokers early in life.

?If you need proof second-hand smoke kills, it?s sitting right next to me. You have an amazing opportunity,? she said. ?This is the job with which you have been entrusted.?

Rep. Jacqueline Cilley, D-Barrington, said, ?I can think of few laws more intrusive to our free market system.? Passage is not needed, she said, because the market is already driving restaurants to ban smoking on their own.

[Dave Ridley]

<< Rep. Jacqueline Cilley, D-Barrington, said, ?I can think of few laws more intrusive to our free market system.? Passage is not needed, she said, because the market is already driving restaurants to ban smoking on their own. >>

That was my favorite part.  I will probably write her a note of thanks for saying that, I always get really pumped when I see an NH Dem do or say something pro freedom.

[aries]

This one was for Green, if you'd like to send a similar one, I would recommend not word for word at least...

Senator Green - Please oppose the passage of HB1177. This bill only restricts the rights of the owner of the property, the restaurant. It is a bill being pushed by restaurant owners who do allow smoking, but are afraid of disallowing smoking because they would lose business. The NH restaurant and lodging assiciation has previously opposed a smoking ban, because of the implications it has on property rights.

Employees and patrons are well aware that they are entering a location that allows smoking when they do so, and decide to take a job or eat there. There is no forcing them to take a job, there is no forcing them to eat. It is about choice. All about choice, for your business, and to whom you give your business and your working power.
If enough people didn't eat at an establishment, and voted with their feet, because it allowed smoking, I'm sure the owner would reconsider his policy. But please, don't force him to.

While I feel deeply for those who have experienced first hand the bad effects of second hand smoke, that is no reason to outlaw smokers smoking. Victims of many things have plead to have them outlawed - guns, fast food, even sharp kitchen knives. Yet, none of these things have been outlawed, because America is a free nation, and New Hampshire is a free state. A land of choice, where you can choose to go to a restaurant which allows smoking, or choose to take your business elsewhere, and vote with your feet. A land where you have a right to, and easy access to knowledge about the effects of smoking and second hand smoke, and you are always free to consciously choose where you go and what you expose yourself to. A land where the government is not a babysitter, and you are free to smoke, for whatever personal reason you decide, even when you know about its effects.

New Hampshire needs more economic and personal freedom, to encourage people to come to live, work, and operate businesses here. This law is another turn-off to doing all three.

Thank you for your time, and I hope to be thanking you for your vote of NO on HB1177.

It's nearly what I sent Gallus but the whole 3rd paragraph is new.

[Dreepa]

Shawn Joyce, president and CEO of Margarita?s restaurants, said he would ban smoking if his board of directors would approve. He said he?s seen no business loss in any New England state that has banned smoking.

But committee members criticized him for allowing smoking to continue in most restaurants while he urges a statewide ban. Clegg questioned whether Margarita?s puts profits ahead of its workers health.

What a jerk dick.
Boycott Margarita's!!

[KBCraig]

My email to Jacalyn Cilley:

Thank you for your comments on HB1177, the smoking ban, during Senate testimony. The Union Leader quoted you this way:

_____
?I can think of few laws more intrusive to our free market system.? Passage is not needed, she said, because the market is already driving restaurants to ban smoking on their own.
_____


Your point is exactly right. I'm moving to NH within the next two years, and I'm urging all Representatives and Senators to help keep NH what it is, and not mini-Massachusetts. After all, if I wanted hard winters and restrictive laws, I could move to MA or VT. Or I could skip the winters and stick with restrictive laws here in Texas.

I don't want those choices. I want to live free, in New Hampshire.

Thanks again.

Kevin Craig
Nash, TX (soon to be NH)