Legislature(2015 - 2016)CAPITOL 106
03/22/2016 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB315 | |
| HB334 | |
| HB328 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 315 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 334 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 328 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 328-REGULATION OF SMOKING
4:57:40 PM
VICE CHAIR VAZQUEZ announced that the next order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 328, "An Act prohibiting smoking in
certain places; relating to education on the smoking
prohibition; and providing for an effective date."
4:58:21 PM
JOSHUA BANKS, Staff, Representative Dave Talerico, Alaska State
Legislature, said that they had a committee substitute that
mirrored the Senate version of the proposed bill. He
paraphrased from the Sponsor Statement [included in members'
packets], which read:
Current Alaska law prohibits smoking in many areas of
the state, including healthcare facilities, schools,
childcare facilities, and public meeting rooms in
government buildings. Many communities and businesses
have voluntarily created smoke-free workplaces
allowing over one-half of Alaskans to live and work in
smoke-free buildings. There are however many
businesses and smaller communities who have chosen
not, or are not able to take similar action in their
buildings, leading to exposure to second-hand smoke
and the resulting negative health effects. House Bill
328 seeks to safeguard working Alaskans and their
children from the adverse effects of secondhand smoke
by providing a statewide smoke-free workplace law for
businesses and public places. Certain boroughs,
cities, and the unorganized borough who do not have
the ability to create and enforce smoke-free workplace
laws will be covered under HB 328. State level
Medicaid expenditures that can be attributed to
smoking is about $67 Million per year, which can be
reduced as we limit unwanted exposure to second-hand
smoke. HB 328 does not make smoking in Alaska illegal,
but rather puts reasonable limitations for where
someone can smoke. This bill does not prohibit outdoor
smoking, except within certain areas near building
entrances/exits, air intakes, and other specifically
designated public gathering places. It does not
legislate who a business can hire and free standing
tobacco and e-cigarette shops are excluded from HB
328.
5:01:31 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked about the reasonable standards he
referenced, and questioned where smoking would be allowed in
Alaska if the proposed bill passed.
MR. BANKS replied that smoking would be allowable in your home
and outside as long as it was not within a certain distance to
buildings.
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked where currently it was possible to
smoke in the State of Alaska.
MR. BANKS offered to list the places.
5:04:11 PM
MICHAEL PATTERSON offered his personal experience with smoking
and breathing in various areas around the state, depending on
local rules for smoking in public places. He declared that he
did not have the right to put his smoke on other people. He
shared that he had COPD, and that second hand smoke from
tobacco, as well as dust and chemicals could set it off. He
said that e-cigarettes had carcinogens, and that they were not
safe, comparing them to "a biological weapon" because of their
particle size and its ability to travel through most objects.
He stated that he would be exposed and have no warning because
the smell was like many other things. He testified in support
of the proposed bill.
5:09:00 PM
DALE FOX, President and CEO, Alaska CHARR, stated that CHARR
opposed smoking bans in bars, as the proposed bill expanded the
smoking ban in bars across Alaska. He declared that CHARR
supported freedom of choice. He said that every community with
this freedom of choice had many smoking and non-smoking venues.
He stated that the public allowed freedom of choice, and that
this proposed bill would invalidate the actions of these local
communities. He challenged the concept that this action was
good for business, reporting that many businesses experienced 30
percent loss of business the first year, with subsequent
declines in business until the fourth year, when business was
back to even. He stated that the average bar was not happy to
lose money. He declared that the anti-smoking league would not
stop with this message to take smoking outside, but would return
with bans in other places such as sidewalks, docks, parks,
wilderness trails, and other places. He said that it was up to
the elected officials to decide the amount of freedom allowed in
America.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked about those members of CHARR who
advocated opposite positions.
MR. FOX replied that the board and the government affairs
committee had taken a unanimous position in opposition to
government edicts on smoking. He said that many businesses in
the industry had gone smoke free whether for economics or
personal choice.
5:13:24 PM
KAREN PERDUE, American Cancer Society, shared her background in
public health and tobacco control policy, which included 8 years
as the Commissioner and 10 years as the Deputy Commissioner of
the Department of Health and Social Services. She reported that
she had also been the CEO and President of the Alaska State
Hospital and Nursing Home Association, and that virtually all of
the hospitals in the state, as well as the employees and
patients, were tobacco-free. She explained that the proposed
bill simply asked people to take smoking outside. She stated
that the culture expectation set by the hospitals was for an
understanding of the importance of public health intervention.
She declared that second hand smoke was real and documented,
sharing that all the women in her family had been medically
compromised from smoking, even though some had never smoked.
There was a higher correlated risk from exposure to second hand
smoke. She shared that the Fairbanks Borough had not passed an
ordinance similar to Anchorage and Juneau, as the borough did
not have health powers. However, the proposed bill would make
the regulation of smoking consistent between the city and the
borough. She shared that the city ordinance did not include
private facilities. She expressed her concern for workers
exposed to second hand smoke. She supported that the proposed
bill included e-cigarettes and, as the science had not yet
caught up with the technology, it could not be said that e-
cigarettes were healthy. She pointed out that it was not often
that a bill had no cost to the state, and yet saved the state
money in health costs. She stated her support for the proposed
bill.
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL asked where someone could smoke in
Fairbanks.
MS. PERDUE offered her belief that the city ordinance did not
allow smoking in private businesses except for bars and
restaurants. She opined that there was not any regulation
beyond state law outside the city.
VICE CHAIR VAZQUEZ asked for clarification that the borough did
not have any health authority.
MS. PERDUE said that the borough had very limited health powers,
and that was also the case in other boroughs in Alaska.
5:19:10 PM
EDY RODEWALD stated that second hand smoke was "the cloud that
threatens the health and the well-being of Alaskans," people who
have chosen not to smoke but cannot escape the harmful effects
of smoke. She shared that she had worked in a bar as she worked
through college, and that her father, a heavy smoker, died at 37
years of age from lung cancer. She stated that this
differentially impacted people at the lower economic levels,
reporting that Alaska Natives smoked at twice the rate and that
second hand smoke impacted children, who had no choice. She
declared that the majority of people don't smoke, and don't
allow smoking in their homes, but smoking was allowed in public
places. She opined that smoking was reckless behavior, and that
most smokers agreed. She said it was time to remove smoke from
indoor work places, and declared her support of the proposed
bill.
5:21:09 PM
EMILY NENON, Alaska Government Relations Director, American
Cancer Society, stated that she had been working on the issue of
smoke free workplaces in Alaska for the past 15 years at the
local level and reported that significant areas of the state
don't have local health controls to adopt regulations. She
pointed out that there were areas in Fairbanks where the city
ordinance did not prohibit smoking inside all workplaces. She
maintained that the organization's position was to take smoking
outside and to provide equal protection for all workers in the
workplace.
5:23:13 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL asked if all the municipalities with health
powers had enacted smoking bans.
MS. NENON replied "for the most part, yes," and that she would
provide the list to the committee. She relayed that all the
major population centers with that power at the borough level
had already taken action, with Bethel being the first area to
pass this in 1998.
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL asked how many of the major population areas
would be affected by the proposed bill.
MS. NENON replied that this proposed bill would provide
protections for about half of the state population that was not
yet covered. She directed attention to a chart listing the
borough powers [included in members' packets]. She stated that
public education was a key to the ease of enforcement, as the
laws were largely self-enforcing. She opined that Alaska was
ready to take the step to protect all workers.
5:25:36 PM
GARY FERGUSON, M.D., Senior Director of Community Health
Services, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, reported that
there was strong support for smoke-free workplace laws in
Alaska, and he offered an anecdote of a restaurant in Unalaska.
He pointed to a recent poll which reported that 69 percent of
Alaskans across subgroups including geographic location, age,
and political party, strongly supported the proposed bill. He
shared that 72 percent of Alaskans supported the inclusion of e-
cigarettes in a smoke-free workplace law, and that a majority of
Alaska Native adults supported smoke-free restaurants and
believed that smoking should not be allowed in in-door work
areas. He acknowledged that tobacco use was still high among
Alaska Natives. He stated that the proposed bill would provide
comprehensive protection from second-hand smoke and e-cigarette
aerosol for employees and customers in all workplaces and public
places. He explained that the proposed bill simply asked that
those who choose to smoke or use e-cigarettes to take it outside
in order to protect the health and safety of all Alaskans.
5:28:21 PM
ALEX MCDONALD, Owner, Ice Fog Vapor, stated his opposition to HB
328, as he had many issues with the bill as currently written.
He said it was "a huge invasion in the privacy of people's
homes." He stated that many homes would have to become smoke-
free places to allow health care providers to come and help with
care. He declared that Alaska had a long history of respecting
people's privacy, which the proposed bill went against. He said
that the proposed bill also stripped a business owner of the
choice to run the business as they wished, and would take away
local choice for communities to regulate these products as they
saw fit. He pointed out that, as Alaska was a huge state,
something that worked in one area of the state may not work in
another area. He declared that every other controlled substance
was given local option in Alaska. He expressed concern with the
inclusion of vaporizers in the proposed bill, as these products
did not produce combustion or any combustion by-products. He
referenced an English report which said that e-cigarettes
released negligible levels of nicotine into ambient air with no
identified health risk to by-standers. He shared one study
which concluded that it could be unhealthier to breathe air in
big cities compared to standing in a room with someone who was
vaping. He said the technology was being embraced in England to
help smokers stop the use of tobacco products, and had concluded
that e-cigarettes could save lives and long term health care
costs, and were not a gateway to smoking.
5:31:08 PM
SHARON WOLKOFF, Kodiak Area Native Association, stated that she
had done tobacco cessation work, and was now working in tobacco
prevention. She offered anecdotes about her family and its
history around smoking. She testified in support of smoke free
workplaces, so not to worry about the health of loved ones. She
expressed agreement with the freedom of choice for everyone to
enjoy the establishments.
5:34:41 PM
VICE CHAIR VAZQUEZ closed public testimony on HB 328.
[HB 328 was held over.]