ACS CAN Files Legal Complaint in Defense of NCIAA
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Tom McCoy
Nevada Government Relations Director
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
(775) 232.0194
tom.mccoy@cancer.org
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Files Legal Complaint in Defense of Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act
Cancer Control Advocates Question Constitutionality of Rolling Back Smoking Restrictions Using State Legislature’s 2009 Anti-Stalking Bill
Reno, NV – December 9, 2009 – Aggrieved cancer control advocates took action today under the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) banner to file a lawsuit in the State of Nevada’s First Judicial District asking the court to invalidate action by the state legislature in the waning hours of the 2009 session that weakens the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act.
The legal action by ACS CAN seeks judicial review of an alleged state constitutional violation underlying the means by which Assembly Bill 309 was adopted by the Nevada state legislature on June 1, 2009.
As is the case with most states, the constitution of the State of Nevada promotes transparency in government by specifically prohibiting the mixing of unrelated subject matters in the same legislation. AB 309 was throughout the legislative session a bill pertaining to stalking-related crimes. A loosely-worded amendment allowing smoking in undefined “convention facilities” was slipped into AB 309 by a late-night conference committee during the final hours of the 2009 session. In this way, tobacco-related interests used AB 309 as a vehicle to carry forward language from another attack on the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, Senate Bill 372, which had died in an Assembly committee at the behest of health advocates earlier in the session. The Nevada state constitution specifically mandates that the content of bills be limited to “…but one subject, and matter, properly connected therewith.”
Plaintiffs will ask for the smoking-related language to be stricken from AB 309, leaving the remaining legislation focused on stalking-related crimes intact. AB 309 contains a severability clause that would seem to allow such targeted action by the courts.
“ACS CAN members and volunteers recognize our duty to defend the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act and to support the state constitution from the predatory actions of big tobacco,” said Tom McCoy, Director of Nevada Government Relations for ACS CAN. “Crimes related to stalking deserve to be addressed on their own legislative terms without interference from spurious, 11th hour amendments that improperly grant tobacco-related interests free license to smoke.”
During the legislative session, a random-sample scientific poll commissioned by ACS CAN found that 72 percent of Nevada registered voters preferred that the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act remain as-is or be strengthened to cover more indoor areas. In the same survey, 56 percent of respondents expressed that they were more likely to increase their restaurant and bar patronage while, by comparison, only 10 percent of voters indicated they were less likely to visit restaurants and bars now that more public places and establishments are smoke-free.
In recent years, a broad series of national and local reports have substantiated the legitimacy of regulations that limit workplace exposure to secondhand smoke. In 2006, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a report entitled “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke” in which secondhand smoke was determined to be a definitive cause of cancer, heart, disease, and lung disease. Causing further concern in the health community was a May, 2009 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) which detected tobacco smoke-specific carcinogens in the urine of non-smoking casino workers who are exposed to smoke-filled environments at the workplace. Other economic data released by University of Nevada - Las Vegas in early 2009 asserted that local businesses had not experienced any net negative financial impact as a result of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
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