House extinguishes Efforts to make the state Capitol a smoke-free workplace have been snuffed out this year, despite early bipartisan support in the state House.
Capitol smoking ban,
says it’s unnecessary
A current law bans smoking
in public places but is ignoredBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comEric Hamakawa (D, South Hilo), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said his panel did not take action on House Bill 1774 over the past month because the proposed law may be unnecessary.
Instead, Hamakawa said, what's needed is enforcement of the current state law regarding smoking in public places. For example, while there are several no-smoking signs on all five floors of the state Capitol, many are just a few feet away from large concrete ashtrays, he said.
"So who's going to be the smoking police?" Hamakawa said.
Last Thursday was the deadline to exchange most bills between the House and the Senate. Any measure which missed that deadline is considered dead for the session.
The Capitol smoking ban bill was initially approved by the House Legislative Management Committee on Feb. 7, but the Judiciary Committee decided not to hear the measure, even though it was co-introduced by House Majority Floor Leader Marilyn Lee (D, Mililani), Vice Speaker Sylvia Luke (D, Nuuanu), Judiciary Vice Chairman Blake Oshiro (D, Red Hill) and a bipartisan group of legislators.
Oshiro said on Monday while he and others co-introduced the bill, no legislator asked it be scheduled for a hearing in his committee. Also, the measure wasn't identified as a priority for the House majority, he said.
Oshiro said it's likely there was strong opposition from longtime Capitol office workers and legislators who smoke. On any given day, smokers can be seen at the railings of the second, third and fourth-floor interior lanais of the building.
"It's just one of those things," Oshiro said. "If there is a lot of opposition to it and nobody speaks for it, it's just going to die."
State Deputy Comptroller Mary Alice Evans said the Department of Accounting and General Services supported the intent of the ban, but the bill seemed to unfairly target Capitol smokers compared to smokers in other state buildings.
Current state law sets out where smoking is prohibited, and it includes all areas open to the public in state or county-owned buildings. But Evans said the department does not interpret this to mean the interior and exterior lanai areas of the Capitol, therefore people can smoke there.
Evans said the signs posted at the Capitol are to remind people smoking is illegal in elevators, stairwells and interior office spaces.
"Just because the state Capitol has lanais on two floors on the outside and on the four floors on the inside ... we don't think that it's good policy to have a different standard for that building than for other public buildings," Evans said.
She added enforcement of the law currently is through the honor system.
Undaunted, Lee said her alternative is to introduce a resolution this week to enforce the current smoking laws at the Capitol. A similar resolution is expected to be introduced in the state Senate, she said.
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