Take Action: Protect Washington's Smokefree Law

Publication Date: 2017-02-09

Let your voice be heard: tell the Washington State Legislature to oppose House Bill 1919.

A nefarious cigar lounge bill – House Bill 1919 – has been introduced in the Washington Legislature.  This bill would severely weaken the state smokefree air law to allow any business with a tobacco products retailer's license to apply for a license to allow smoking indoors.

This bill would result in businesses building indoor smoking areas that do not protect people’s health from secondhand smoke exposure. Also, this bill would require employees to sign declarations and routinely have their blood tested to verify that they are active smokers.

HB 1919 is a bad idea that would weaken Washington’s smokefree air law, expose more hospitality workers and the public to deadly secondhand smoke, and impose unnecessary tests on workers.

1) Using this link, urge lawmakers on the the House Business & Financial Services Committee to oppose HB 1919 and protect the rights of all citizens in Washington to breathe smokefree air. See sample talking points below.

2) Write a letter to the editor about the need to keep Washington’s Clean Indoor Air law strong. Click on the links below to submit a letter to these newspapers:

Seattle Times
Spokesman Review
The Olympian
The News Tribune

Sample Talking Points:

• The 2006 U.S. Surgeon General’s report states that there is no risk free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking rooms and ventilation systems do not address the health hazards.
  
  
• Everyone deserves the right to breathe smokefree air in workplaces and public places. Bartenders and other hospitality service staff deserve a safe smokefree workplace just like any other worker.
  
  
• Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard. Secondhand smoke exposure increases a person’s risk of heart disease, cancer, and stroke by 30%. Tobacco smoke is a toxic soup of thousands of chemicals, gases, and fine particles. It is a top preventable cause of disease, death, and health care costs.
  
  
• The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the standard setting body for the HVAC industry, affirms that ventilation systems cannot control for the health hazards of secondhand smoke. ASHRAE also affirms that marijuana and electronic smoking devices should not be used in smokefree spaces. To protect public health, all indoor spaces in a building should be smokefree.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, ask lawmakers to have a heart, protect everyone’s heart and keep the Clean Air Act strong.

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Do one more thing:

After you send a message or write a letter to the editor, let your friends and neighbors know about this issue and ask them to also send a message to the state legislature.

To learn more, contact Mary McHale, ACS CAN Washington Government Relations Director.

Please let us know you took action by forwarding your email to anr@no-smoke.org.

Read the full alert at http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51299/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1338739.