Fight over secondhand smoke restrictions likely

Publication Date: 2005-03-19

• Author:AP
• Publication:Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada lawmakers hoping to use a bill designed to curb smoking in day care centers and video arcades to enact tougher secondhand smoke restrictions could have a fight on their hands.

Earlier this month, the Assembly Judiciary Committee found itself caught between two citizen initiative petitions that would ban indoor smoking in some areas. They declined to take action on either one, finding one measure too restrictive and another too lenient.

The committee then looked to Assembly Bill 118, sponsored by Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, as a way to design its own restrictions.

But in the bill's first hearing Thursday, McClain warned against making any amendments to the bill, which would ban smoking in video arcades and prohibit day care owners from designating a smoking area.

Judiciary Chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, bristled at the warning, saying AB118 "may be the only boat on the river and there is a strong feeling about adding additional things."