3/15/2010
DAVID CLOUSTON
Alan Jilka describes his 2002 vote in favor of a partial ban on smoking in restaurants as the single most controversial vote in his 12 years on the Salina City Commission.
Monday, Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson thanked the commissioners who supported that measure, saying it demonstrated that businesses could survive a public smoking ban, making it easier for lawmakers to enact a similar ban statewide.
“So whatever heat you took was worth it,” Parkinson said.
Parkinson spoke briefly at a ceremonial bill signing in Salina for the new public smoking law. As he signed a copy of the measure, Jilka, Debbie Divine and Kristin Gunn — all former commissioners and mayors — together with a group that included current commissioner Norman Jennings, stood watching over his shoulder.
“Yes!” Divine exclaimed, as Parkinson finished his signature, to a round of applause from the audience gathered in a meeting room of the Salina-Saline County Health Department.
Those who didn’t applaud included opponents who carried signs opposed to the bill, some of whom were allowed to stand quietly at the back of the room during the event.
Parkinson originally signed the bill Friday in Topeka at the statehouse. The ban takes effect July 1.
“People might say, ‘Well, you signed the bill into law Friday, how come you’re out here today signing it again?’ And I would say that I win so rarely that ...” Parkinson paused as he was interrupted by laughter. “We might have a hundred bill signings today,” he said.
Parkinson hailed the Clean Air Act as a great victory. The law bans smoking in restaurants, bars, offices and other public places. It specifically exempts state-owned and state-operated casinos, which the governor has said is hypocritical. He has said at other times it would be appropriate for the state to change that exemption in the future.
“You can’t let great be the enemy of good,” Parkinson said later, after Monday’s signing ceremony. “If I had vetoed this legislation because of the exception, I wouldn’t have seen it again.”
Parkinson said it’s possible that someone could push a “trailer bill” that would close the exception, but it’s not likely so close to the end of the session.
Another significant exemption in the bill allows hotels and motels to set aside 20 percent of rooms for smoking.
Last month the House approved the bill by just six votes, 68-54. It had already passed the Senate. Rep. Charlie Roth, R-Salina, made the motion from the floor of the House to vote on the bill.
Parkinson said the bill stands for fundamental change “that will have the result of saving thousands of Kansans’ lives in the future. People who might be against what we’ve done, we’re going to save their lives, maybe their kids’ lives, maybe even their grandkids’ lives. You don’t get a chance to do that very often.”
In his remarks, Parkinson cited Roth and Democrat Lisa Benlon, D-Overland Park, as key advocates for the measure in the House. They helped lead a bipartisan coalition, together with numerous health advocates — doctors, nurses and health professionals.
“Would the Legislature do the right thing, or yield to the tobacco industry?” Parkinson asked. “When tested in this way, this year, Kansans won, the special interest groups lost and Kansans got the clean air that they deserve.”
Parkinson said the research is quite clear that thousands of people die due to exposure to second-hand smoke, and new research is exposing stronger links between heart attacks and strokes.
What wasn’t clear from banning smoking in most public places was the effect it would have on businesses, the governor said. So it was really great to have Salina pass a comprehensive indoor clean air ordinance banning smoking.
Salina’s smoking ordinance went into effect in 2002. It banned smoking in restaurants between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. Salina was the first city in the state with an ordinance restricting indoor smoking in restaurants.
In January 2009 a more comprehensive ordinance was passed, instituting a round-the-clock ban on smoking in most public places, including bars, hotels and motels and truck stops.
“The sky did not fall down. The health situation certainly improved. The restaurants didn’t go out of business, the bars didn’t go out of business. Everything still worked really well,” Parkinson said.


Read more about the smoking bill in Tuesday's Salina Journal.

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