A competing smoke free bill introduced in the Kansas House of Representatives on 2/3/10 calls for overturning all smoke free ordinances statewide and replacing those ordinances with a state law that allows smoking to return to bars, restaurants, private clubs and casinos.

The primary concern with the new bill is that it overrides not only our local ordinances but all of the 39 local smoke free ordinances approved by Kansas communities over the past ten years. It’s hypocritical for those legislators who have been arguing for years that they are champions of local control, to include a preemption clause that states no local ordinance can be stronger than the state law.House Bill 2642 undoes a decade of good public policy on the local level in Kansas. This bill is the tobacco industry’s dream bill. 

A better bill  available to legislators is HB 2221 that would provide protections from second hand smoke for a majority of Kansas residents. It would include bars and restaurants.