'Pandering to the tobacco lobby'

No everyone is happy with the smoking pan passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature on Tuesday.

State Rep. Chelsa Wagner, D-Allegheny, issued the following statement in reaction to the Senate's passage of a House-Senate conference committee's statewide smoking ban proposal (S.B. 246):

"The passage of the new statewide smoking ban is most certainly bittersweet -- bitter in that it could have been much better; sweet in that we are finally advancing an important issue. We now need to work from its foundation, and make advances to strengthen the law.

"It was unfortunate that the House and Senate had to vote on a bill that does not allow any counties other than Philadelphia to have a stricter smoking ban, particularly because of the many exemptions in the bill. In particular, an exemption for one county puts the rest of our counties at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to the health and well-being of our workers and our businesses, and that is plainly unacceptable.

"The sad reality is this: The only plausible reason for stripping counties' right to enact stronger versions of a smoking ban is so the tobacco industry won't be 'forced' to spend more time and money dragging each individual law through court. It's unacceptable and unethical to place the tobacco industry's financial interests above the health and will of Pennsylvania's residents and business owners. Pandering to the tobacco lobby is not my idea of good government or good public policy.

"I supported this bill knowing all the while that I would soon propose legislation that would fix and improve its language. The day this bill becomes law, I will introduce legislation that would allow Allegheny County and others to enact stricter, more uniform bans. We have made significant progress, but our work is far from done on this issue. By removing the exemptions in S.B. 246 and allowing other counties to pass more stringent laws, I believe that we can at least provide a fair playing field, making sure businesses in one county are not competing at an unfair disadvantage against one another, and of course providing better, consistent health measures for our residents."