SMOKING BILLS SHOULD FIRE UP LEGISLATORS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993                   TAG: 9301280077
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
SMOKING BILLS SHOULD FIRE UP LEGISLATORS
Controversy over public smoking is about to be reignited in the General Assemblywith bills pending that would severely limit lighting up in public and could open employers to lawsuits if they don't protect workers from cigarette smoke.
Amendments outlined Wednesday by Del. Bernard Cohen, D-Alexandria, to the state's Indoor Clean Air Act would ban smoking in shopping malls, airports, public restrooms, grocery stores, retail stores, gas stations, day-care centers, courtrooms, jury rooms, polling places and public areas of recreational facilities.
The bill would permit the designation of entire public places or private workplaces as nonsmoking. And if smoking is permitted, the smoking area would have to be separated from nonsmoking areas and well-ventilated.
Cohen's bill also calls for quadrupling the $25 fine for businesses that fail to post required no-smoking signs.
As tobacco lobbyists looked on, Cohen waxed optimistic about the chances for passage of tougher smoking restrictions this year.
"The climate has changed dramatically," he told reporters. "There will be many emotional arguments. . . . But there are different attitudes out there, and people recognize this as a health threat."
Citing that threat, Del. Karen Darner, D-Arlington, will push a bill to add tobacco smoke to a list of hazards from which employers must protect their workers.
Darner said that adding cigarette smoke to the list gives employees a formal avenue of complaint if workplaces are unhealthy with smoke. Lawsuits may follow, or complaints can be lodged under Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, Darner said.
"The [federal government] has identified substances in cigarette smoke as substances we live with daily," said Tony Troy, a lobbyist for The Tobacco Institute. "We don't know what those exposures are [that would be harmful] or what an employer's duty is.
"Attitudes might be changing, but the question is: Are they changing to the point that we are willing to classify a businessman as a criminal if he fails to post signs?" Troy added.
Troy pointed out that about 90 lawmakers have co-sponsored a bill aimed at protecting smokers' rights.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB