Joined Jan 2003
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South Carolina
Stogie Hound Helps Gut Missouri Smoking-Ban Bill
By Ben Bryant, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Feb. 21--JACKSON, Miss.--Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, is known for his love of straight talk and strong cigars.
The first habit helped him indulge the second Wednesday night, as he was holding forth at Hooter's restaurant against a Senate bill to ban most public smoking. Overhearing Holland, a Jackson cigar-shop owner passed him a box of 25 Honduran stogies.
The box was sitting on the colorful power broker's desk Thursday afternoon, hours after Holland and other members of a House committee voted to gut the Senate smoking bill.
Under the proposal approved by the House Committee on Public Health and Welfare, smoking would be illegal in government buildings and most public vehicles.
But it would be up to owners to decide the smoking policies in private office buildings and restaurants. They would have to post signs detailing their policies near the entrances to their buildings.
That's a far cry from the Senate-approved ban on smoking in restaurants, private businesses and all government buildings. Under that proposal, the only exceptions would be private homes, bars and the gaming areas of casinos.
The committee also stripped a provision from the Senate bill that would have allowed the state Board of Health to set penalties for violators.
Scofflaws would face a misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $100.
"The only thing that the Board of Health would have jurisdiction over would be the size of the signs at the entrance to buildings," said Rep. Bobby Moody, D-Louisville, the chairman of the House Public Health Committee.
Of the entire bill, Moody said: "It doesn't go as far in some places as I'd like. But it's what we all could agree to."
The bill must now win approval from the House Appropriations Committee. Appropriations Chairman Charlie Capps, D-Cleveland, said he hasn't reviewed the bill.
Capps, a former smoker, has said he opposes a broad ban on public smoking.
Public health advocates and some committee members were clearly disappointed with the weakened bill.
House Speaker Pro Tem Robert Clark, D-Ebenezer, said allowing smoking in public places is like allowing open gunfire there as well. Both are deadly, Clark said.
As for Holland's cigars, they won't have to be reported because the cigar-shop owner is not a registered lobbyist. "It's the same thing as a gift," Holland said.
The bill is Senate Bill 2648.
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(c) 2003, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
By Ben Bryant, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Feb. 21--JACKSON, Miss.--Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, is known for his love of straight talk and strong cigars.
The first habit helped him indulge the second Wednesday night, as he was holding forth at Hooter's restaurant against a Senate bill to ban most public smoking. Overhearing Holland, a Jackson cigar-shop owner passed him a box of 25 Honduran stogies.
The box was sitting on the colorful power broker's desk Thursday afternoon, hours after Holland and other members of a House committee voted to gut the Senate smoking bill.
Under the proposal approved by the House Committee on Public Health and Welfare, smoking would be illegal in government buildings and most public vehicles.
But it would be up to owners to decide the smoking policies in private office buildings and restaurants. They would have to post signs detailing their policies near the entrances to their buildings.
That's a far cry from the Senate-approved ban on smoking in restaurants, private businesses and all government buildings. Under that proposal, the only exceptions would be private homes, bars and the gaming areas of casinos.
The committee also stripped a provision from the Senate bill that would have allowed the state Board of Health to set penalties for violators.
Scofflaws would face a misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $100.
"The only thing that the Board of Health would have jurisdiction over would be the size of the signs at the entrance to buildings," said Rep. Bobby Moody, D-Louisville, the chairman of the House Public Health Committee.
Of the entire bill, Moody said: "It doesn't go as far in some places as I'd like. But it's what we all could agree to."
The bill must now win approval from the House Appropriations Committee. Appropriations Chairman Charlie Capps, D-Cleveland, said he hasn't reviewed the bill.
Capps, a former smoker, has said he opposes a broad ban on public smoking.
Public health advocates and some committee members were clearly disappointed with the weakened bill.
House Speaker Pro Tem Robert Clark, D-Ebenezer, said allowing smoking in public places is like allowing open gunfire there as well. Both are deadly, Clark said.
As for Holland's cigars, they won't have to be reported because the cigar-shop owner is not a registered lobbyist. "It's the same thing as a gift," Holland said.
The bill is Senate Bill 2648.
-----
(c) 2003, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
