A sponsor of New Jersey’s 2006 act banning indoor smoking is calling for an end to the law’s exemption for casinos.
For years, anti-smoking advocates in New Jersey have been fighting an uphill battle. They want the state to end the exemption to the 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act that allows smoking in casinos. Last month, one of the original sponsors of that act, former state senator Loretta Weinberg, came out in favour of ending the loophole and banning smoking in casinos.
In an op-ed for NJ.com, she said pressure from the tobacco industry led to casinos being exempted from the ban. Weinberg was a key sponsor of the original bill banning indoor smoking.
“Eighteen years ago, I was a sponsor of the Smoke-Free Air Act,” Weinberg wrote. “With other legislators, I fought the powerful tobacco industry and the third-party advocates the industry manipulated and mobilised to fight smoking restrictions.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to pass the Act unless we excluded casino workers from its protections. We simply did not have the votes, so we acquiesced, trying to protect as many people as possible while expecting to close this unjustified loophole in the near future. I never imagined that nearly two decades later, casino workers and patrons would still be subjected to poisonous secondhand smoke.”
Governor, health commissioner under fire
Weinberg called on two officials in particular. She asked that Governor Phil Murphy and Department of Health commissioner Kaitlan Baston drop their opposition to a lawsuit filed by a casino dealer group, Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE), and their union, the United Auto Workers. The suit alleges that Murphy and Baston failed to protect casino workers by excluding them from the smoking ban.
“The governor and commissioner should not defend this injustice,” Weinberg wrote. “They could – today – agree that casino workers (and patrons) deserve safety and health like everyone else under the New Jersey Constitution, which prohibits corporate favours and guarantees equal protection.
“Or the legislature could finally, quickly, end this long-running travesty because we now know the truth. Senator Joe Vitale and others have been fighting for casino workers for years. How many more workers have to suffer, get sick, or die before we act?”
Smoking and casino revenue
Weinberg also disputed casino operator claims that revenues will drop and casinos will close if smoking is banned.
“We’ve seen it in the 21 states with thriving smoke-free casinos, including every state in our region except Connecticut and Pennsylvania,” she wrote. “In Pennsylvania, the most successful casino is voluntarily smoke-free. And what does it tell you that five of the nine Atlantic City casinos are seeking licences in smoke-free New York? It means that they know smoke-free is good business.
“The devastating health effects of smoking are not in dispute. To quote the law we passed: ‘Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the State and nation.’ Secondhand smoke causes cancer, heart disease, lung disease, strokes, pre-term births, stillbirths and miscarriages.”
Bills to end the casino exemption to the indoor smoking ban failed to reach a floor vote last year. The effort is expected to be revived in the new session this year. Murphy has previously said he will sign any casino smoking ban bill that reaches his desk.
