KHI News Service - Sarah Green - 03/03/08

TOPEKA, March 3 — In recent days both Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, have used medical metaphors to describe bills that would enact a statewide ban on public, indoor smoking.

“I’m not sure I would write this off,” Schmidt said of the smoking ban. “It’s on life support, but I’m not sure it’s dead, either.”

Half-time in the 90-day legislative session was reached Friday.  That means there’s still time to for the ban to gain approval, supporters said.

“The fat lady hasn’t sung,” said Kansas Health Policy Authority Executive Director Marcia Nielsen. “My take is that there’s clearly a lot of interest and energy around a smoking ban in our state.”

A smoking ban is a cornerstone of the agency’s 21-point health reform plan, which also includes a proposed 50-cent increase in the state tobacco tax. Health officials say if both were adopted thousands of lives could be saved and millions of dollars saved in future health care costs.  A recent survey by the Sunflower Foundation showed that 71 percent of Kansas voters would support a ban. And 26 Kansas cities and two counties have already adopted smoking restrictions.

But many lawmakers are skittish in an election year about doing anything that might anger voters.

Smoking ban

Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, last week introduced the session’s second bill aimed at banning indoor smoking. Senate Bill 660 was sent to the Senate Ways and Means committee.

SB 493, the first bill, was amended to include so many exemptions that its original supporters walked away from it. The changes would have allowed smoking in bars, private clubs, cigar bars and tobacco shops.  The bill would have required each county to put a smoking ban question on the November general election ballot, letting voters decide the county’s course. Anti-tobacco activists disliked that provision, saying it would lead to a patchwork of uneven regulation across the state.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius drew laughs from Topeka Rotarians last week when she said, “The Senate committee has watered down (SB 493) so much; they’ve done everything but mandate that people smoke.”

“It’s the compromise that nobody loves,” Schmidt. “It probably means it’s not a bad compromise, but it also doesn’t mean it has the votes to pass.”

Kelly’s bill, SB 660, is the one endorsed by the health policy authority.

But its future is no clearer than the other smoking ban bill, Schmidt said.

“It’s still early,” he said. “At the end of the day, I think most members are going to want to do something related to health, and the other options aren’t especially attractive either.”

Tobacco tax

The Sunflower Foundation survey also found that 64 percent of Kansas voters would support an increase in the state tobacco tax. But that idea seems to have even less traction with legislators than a smoking ban.

The House Taxation Committee in early February held a two-day hearing on HB 2737, which would raise the state’s tobacco tax to $1.29 per pack on July 1. In the first year, the bill would direct $61.57 million from the state general fund into a new “health reform fund” to pay for some of the health policy authority’s reform recommendations.

An identical bill, Senate Bill 542, was introduced in the Senate Taxation Committee but was never scheduled for hearing.

“It didn’t appear to have the votes to send it out of committee,” said Sen. Barbara Allen, R-Overland Park, the chairperson.

The House bill hardly did better.

It is “resting comfortably,” said House Taxation Chairman Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing.

“If I pulled the bill up and worked the bill and voted on the bill as it is, I don’t think it would come out of committee,” he said. “There have been some hall discussions about maybe amending the bill, maybe for a lesser amount, maybe a more defined definition of what the money would go for and the results we can expect.”

Nielsen said she hadn’t been involved in any of those discussions.

“My guess is that there would be a whole host of ways that legislators might want to change the policy that we’ve recommended, and of course we would be interested in hearing all of those changes,” she said.

-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.