KHI News Service - Sarah Green - 02/27/2008

TOPEKA, Feb. 27 — Senators got a fresh start today on legislation that would ban smoking in virtually all work and public places across the state.

Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, introduced a bill in the Ways and Means Committee that would ban smoking everywhere except in private homes and 20 percent of motel rooms.

The measure was drafted at the request of the Kansas Health Policy Authority as part of its 21-point health reform package, said Executive Director Marcia Nielsen. It was introduced after an earlier bill banning smoking was amended to include so many exemptions that it failed to gain support from anti-tobacco activists or even many who oppose a ban.

That proposal, Senate Bill 493, would have required counties to put a smoking ban question on the November general election ballot. It was amended in the Senate Judiciary Committee to allow indoor smoking in bars, private clubs and cigar bars, prompting the five Republican senators who introduced the bill to withdraw their support.

Judiciary Committee Chairman John Vratil, R-Leawood, told his committee Wednesday morning that he would ask Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, to “bless” the bill by moving it this week to an exempt committee. Saturday is the final day for bills to be considered in their house of origin. That way, the bill would be available for the committee’s vote in the second half of the legislative session “if further action is warranted,” Vratil said.

Uncertain future

It’s not clear what will happen to the new bill introduced in Ways and Means, said Sen. David Wysong, R-Mission Hills, an original sponsor of SB 493.

“I think it will sit in committee. It’s going to be very difficult to get it passed this year, but I’m glad the issue is back on the table,” he said.

SB 493 was a compromise that at the beginning of the session seemed to have more support than a bill offered last year by Wysong similar to bill introduced in Ways and Means on Wednesday by Kelly.

The full Senate would not support an outright ban, Wysong predicted; but he said he would not support the amended version of SB 493.

Neither would Sen. Roger Reitz, R-Manhattan, another of SB 493’s original sponsors. He called the amendments tacked on the bill “offensive.”

“I won’t tolerate the amendments,” Reitz said. “I’m looking for something where the people of Kansas have the chance to vote on a bill that’s as pure as the driven snow, or as close as we can get it.”

He said he would support the new bill, if it also doesn’t get loaded with exemptions.

“I will support anything that speaks to this, but I will not support it with these exceptions,” Reitz said. “It’s a case where truth and reason is trumped by the tyranny of the minority and big tobacco.”

Advocate support

The new bill has the support of anti-tobacco advocates.

“We’ll tell all of our networks that a comprehensive clean indoor air bill with limited exemptions has been introduced,” said Mary Jayne Hellebust, executive director of the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition.

Wysong said if advocates support a ban, he believed it would be in place “next year or two years from now.”

“I think this issue finally has gotten traction,” he said. “People are finally starting to educate themselves that this is a health issue, not an economic issue.”

Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, said there was support in the Senate for doing something regarding indoor smoking laws yet this year.

“What form it will take, I don’t know,” he said. “It’s still early. I’m not ready to declare it dead yet.”

-Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or at 785-233-5443, ext. 118. Staff Writer Jim McLean contributed to this report.