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.]