Sides argue over bill for local-option smoking rules

     Associated Press
      CARSON CITY -- Public health officials squared off against tobacco and casino lobbyists Tuesday in an Assembly Judiciary hearing on a bill to let local governments restrict smoking beyond limits already set by the state.
      Assembly Bill 313, by Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman, D-Reno, lets local governments limit the sale, use and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Every Assembly Judiciary member is co-sponsoring the bill.
      Nevada bars smoking in public buildings, buses, lobbies, doctors' offices, grocery stores and day-care centers. Restaurants with more than 50 seats must have nonsmoking areas.
      But Nevada is one of 13 states that does not allow local governments to be more restrictive in their smoking laws, the Nevada Health Division has said.
      Randall Todd, chief of the division's Bureau of Disease Control, told Judiciary members that demands for stricter smoking policies are ignored because local governments cannot go further than state law.
      "The most effective laws are those developed locally because of local concerns," Todd said.
      Assemblyman John Carpenter -- whose father died of a smoking-related illness -- asked why local governments should not be allowed to adopt less stringent restrictions.
      "I'm all for local control, but why shouldn't it work both ways, letting them regulate it more or less?" said Carpenter, R-Elko.
      "I really hate cigarettes. I also recognize that this is about freedom of choice," Carpenter said.
      Todd compared AB313 with state-regulated speed limits and noted that local governments are not allowed to raise limits to 100 mph but can lower them if they choose.
      Several students from the University of Nevada, Reno, including one with severe asthma, testified in favor of the bill.
      "This bill is a powerful enabler for the community to solve its problems itself," said Michelle Sinnette, adding that she was prompted to testify because many of her son's ninth-grade friends are smoking.
      Lobbyist Harvey Whittemore, representing both the Nevada Resort Association and tobacco giant RJ Reynolds, opposed the bill.
      "Smoking is an adult choice," Whittemore said. "We support every effort to make sure it remains an adult choice and not a choice for a child."
      Whittemore said the bill could have a dramatic effect on sales at casinos, and he used the new cigar bar at New York-New York as an example.
      Asked if he thought local governments would put more stringent restrictions in place, Whittemore said he had seen that pattern in other states. He also admitted that tobacco companies are not interested in fighting local battles.
      "There are a lot of single-agenda zealots out there who are anti-smoking and anti-gaming," Whittemore said.