Below is a listing of the latest news on legislative issues and anti-smoking movements affecting your personal freedom and rights to enjoy cigars. Get Involved, Learn about the Issues, and Take Action!
Committee rejects smoking ban bill
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| May 26th, 2010, 02:11 PM | Louisiana |
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A House panel rejected a Senate-passed measure Tuesday that would have banned smoking in Louisiana bars and casinos — likely ending the battle in the 2010 legislative session.
The state Health and Welfare Committee voted 8-4 to involuntarily defer the legislation.
In recent years, the committee has been a graveyard for bills that sought to expand Louisiana’s Smoke Free Air Act. Earlier in the session, the same panel rejected a much less-restrictive bill that would have required casinos to have non-smoking areas.
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Louisiana House committee rejects smoking ban bill
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| May 25th, 2010, 02:11 PM | Louisiana |
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BATON ROUGE, La.
A Senate-backed attempt to ban smoking in Louisiana bars and casinos has been snuffed out.
The House Health and Welfare Committee rejected the bill in an 8-4 vote Tuesday, a step that was expected to kill the measure for another legislative session. The Senate passed a similar bill last year, only to see it die in the House.
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Smoking ban would hurt casinos
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| May 22nd, 2010, 02:11 PM | Louisiana |
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I would like to address the speculation raised since the start of debate regarding Senate Bill 348 requiring a total smoking ban in bars and commercial casinos but exempting Indian casinos.
Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania have implemented total or partial smoking bans and without exception saw an immediate reduction in revenues.
Since implementation, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have scaled back their non-smoking measures, having experienced losses to tax revenue and jobs. Pennsylvania now allows smoking on 50 percent of its gaming floors and Atlantic City recently extended its moratorium on a total smoking ban for another two years.
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La. bill to make bars, casinos smoke-free advances
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| May 13th, 2010, 02:11 PM | Louisiana |
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BATON ROUGE, La.
A measure that would stamp out smoking in Louisiana's casinos and bars is headed to the House after sailing out of the Senate on Wednesday.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Robert Marionneaux, D-Livonia, is aimed at protecting workers in casinos and bars from second-hand smoke, which, he said, kills 53,000 Americans and 1,100 Louisianans every year.
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Senate wants smoking limited
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| May 13th, 2010, 02:11 PM | Louisiana |
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Smoking would be banned in casinos and bars under a bill approved Wednesday by the Louisiana Senate.
The Senate voted 23-12 for the measure.
The legislation next moves to the Louisiana House, where a less-stringent casino smoking bill died last week in a health committee.
Senate Bill 348 would be an expansion of Louisiana’s Smokefree Air Act under which smoking is barred in any public building, school, public places and any enclosed area within a place of employment.
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Casino smoking ban rejected by House committee
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| May 6th, 2010, 02:11 PM | Louisiana |
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BATON ROUGE -- The effort to broaden Louisiana's indoor smoking ban appears to be dead for the session after a House committee this morning shelved legislation to require non-smoking areas on riverboat casinos.
The action by the House Health and Welfare Committee on House Bill 1323 sends a clear signal that committee members are in no mood to follow their counterparts in the Senate, where the health committee voted unanimously last week to ban smoking in bars and casinos.
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Pinnacle Entertainment Up As Louisiana Defeats Smoking Ban
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| June 3rd, 2009, 01:14 PM | Louisiana |
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NEW YORK (Dow Jones), JUN 3 --Shares of casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. (PNK) jumped as much as 14% Wednesday, a day after the Louisiana legislature overwhelmingly rejected a bill to expand the state's smoking ban to include bars and casinos.
Pinnacle has a significant amount of its operations in Louisiana, and analysts have expressed concerns that a smoking ban in casinos could weigh on Pinnacle's results.
"If you have three hours to gamble, and you spend half an hour outside smoking, it's less time on the device, so you don't lose as much money gambling," Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Brian McGill told Dow Jones Newswires, adding that other people who have to go outside to smoke will end up just leaving the casino.
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House rejects smoking ban, 29-71
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| June 2nd, 2009, 06:17 AM | Louisiana |
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BATON ROUGE, JUN 2 -- Citing the potential for harming businesses, the House today overwhelmingly rejected a move to broaden the state's indoor smoking ban to include bars and gambling establishments.
The 29-71 vote on House Bill 844 by Rep. Gary Smith followed more than an hour of debate and several attempts to change the bill, most of which were turned away.
Supporters of the measure said it was a public health measure designed to protect patrons and workers in bars and casinos from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, and would create a level playing field between restaurants, bars and casinos.
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Bill to ban bar smoking advances
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| May 20th, 2009, 02:07 PM | Louisiana |
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MAY 20 - Legislation that would ban smoking in bars and casinos narrowly passed through a House committee Tuesday.
Members of the House Health and Welfare Committee rejected amendments to exclude cigar and hookah bars from the ban before voting 8-7 to move House Bill 844 to the House floor.
State Rep. Gary Smith, D-Norco, and sponsor of HB844, said similar bills have been discussed and it always boils down to the choice for businesses to allow smoking instead of public health.
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Two Louisiana lawmakers seek to ban smoking in bars
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| April 24th, 2009, 12:26 PM | Louisiana |
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BATON ROUGE, APR 24 -- Smoking in bars would be a thing of the past as of Aug. 15 if two south Louisiana legislators have their way at the lawmaking session that begins Monday.
Rep. Gary Smith, D-Norco, has filed House Bill 844 to ban smoking in "any restaurant or bar." A state law adopted three years ago banned smoking in restaurants, office buildings and other public places but granted exceptions to bars, gambling boats and casinos.
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Orleans condos consider ban on smoking at home
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| January 27th, 2009, 02:00 PM | Louisiana |
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ORLEANS, JAN 27 — Smokers have been able to puff away at home even after they can no longer smoke at work, in restaurants and bars, or at the beach.
But some residents at Old Colony Village in Orleans want to stop neighbors from lighting up even in their own living areas.
Proposed smoking ban
The Old Colony Village condominium complex is considering the following bylaw:
Smoking is prohibited within all units, in all common areas and outside on decks and patios.
Existing smokers can be exempt. The exemption ends when the unit is conveyed or, if rented, when the smoker moves out.
Even if the unit is exempt, the board may respond to residents' complaints of secondhand smoke by declaring the smoke a nuisance and requiring the owner to purchase a filter system to prevent smoke from migrating to surrounding areas, seal all penetrations in walls, ceilings and floors, or stop smoking.
The condominium association is debating a smoking ban for its 143 units in response to complaints about secondhand smoke migrating into hallways and neighbors' units in the two- and three-story buildings on Old Colony Way. The proposed bylaw would prohibit smoking as units are sold but would allow the complex's board to require that a resident who smokes install a filter system, seal off places where smoke could escape, or even stop smoking.
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