Smoke Free Virginia Now

Cristina Nuckols asks that very question in an op-ed in Sunday’s Virginian-Pilot.

VIRGINIA Republicans are desperate to win back the suburban voters who lifted the party to prominence in the 1990s only to abandon the GOP for moderate Democrats in recent years.

Suburban voters have just one question for Republican lawmakers: What problem have you solved for us lately? That’s a real chin-scratcher, but Republicans know they had better come up with an answer pretty fast or they could lose next year’s gubernatorial election and forfeit their majority in the House of Delegates, the GOP’s final toehold in state government.

There’s a catch. Building roads and schools for fast-growing suburban communities takes a lot of money, and cash is in short supply now. There aren’t many problems that can be solved gratis, but there is one.

Proposals to ban smoking in restaurants and bars poll at 70 percent or better, and the enthusiasm is especially keen in the suburbs. The trouble for Republicans is this get-out-of-the-doghouse-for-free ticket comes with a side order of humble pie.

She’s right. Smoke-free legislation is one of the few proposals the General Assembly may see this year that won’t cost the state a dime.

For those that have been following this issue, you know that year after year, smoke-free legislation is sent to the same six-person subcommittee where it always meets the same fate: death. Nuckols’ suggests that legislation in 2009 might take a different path:

With Suit’s retirement, there’s a new boss in General Laws, and health advocacy groups are feeling bullish about the 2009 legislative session.

Del. Chris Jones of Suffolk was named chairman last month, and there’s no sign that he’s been administered a blood oath. “I’m in favor of further restrictions on smoking in public, and there will be a full and fair hearing,” Jones said last week in an interview.

Speaking for at least one of the health advocacy groups backing this legislation, I wouldn’t go so far as to say we feel “bullish.” We are hopeful that a more supportive General Laws Chair will make a difference.

I’m also intrigued by this quote from Del. Cosgrove:

But [Del. Cosgrove] said he and other suburban lawmakers are open to compromise on smoking restrictions.

“Probably the majority of my constituents don’t want smoking in restaurants,” he said, “but at the same time they don’t like the government imposing a total ban on anything.”

As far as I know, that may be the first hint that our six-person subcommittee hasn’t already drawn a line in the sand. However, compromise implies give and take on both sides. There are reasons we may oppose certain “compromises,” and I hope that legislators will keep those concerns in mind.

Balancing those competing demands will be tricky, but 2009 may be the year Republicans give it a try. If they’re looking for a way to put the shine back in their problem-solving credentials, this may be their best shot.

Could 2009 be the year Virginia goes smoke-free? Let’s make sure our legislators know that it should be.

It’s hard to believe, but the Virginia General Assembly heads back into session in just 62 days. Now that the presidential election is over, the Smoke Free Virginia Now campaign is ramping up to make 2009 the year Virginia goes smoke-free.

I wanted to point out an editorial written by Ricky Fulcher, Chair of the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation, which can be found in the 2008 General Assembly wrap-up edition of the The Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest. Titled, “Secondhand Smoke Deserves First-Rate Attention,” the editorial makes the case that Virginia’s tobacco heritage should not stand in the way of progress toward tobacco control:

However, despite overwhelming medical evidence that secondhand smoke is harmful to public health, the General Assembly has been slow to place further restrictions on smoking. Their reluctance is probably based on fear of economic harm to tobacco-related industries and restaurant revenues. However, smoking-related illnesses place a massive financial onus on Virginia’s government coffers, too. Our state government pays $401 million annually in Medicaid costs from smoking, and the average Virginia family pays $576 annually in state
and federal taxes for these types of smoking-related government expenditures

The entire editorial is well worth a read.