State Status
No Preemption
Pending Legislation
Action Alert
CA residents: SB575 blocked by political maneuvering
Publication Date: 2011-07-13
Assembly Member Isadore Hall deserves a Dirty Ashtray Award for his actions to block SB575.
Senate Bill 575 to close loopholes in California's smokefree workplace law is currently being held in the Assembly Committee on Government Operations after some devious political hijinks.
On July 6, the bill was scheduled for a hearing but the Committee Chair, Assembly Member Isadore Hall (D-Los Angeles), engaged in strong-armed tactics by saying that unless three amendments to severely weaken the bill were accepted, he would block the bill. Â When the amendments were wisely refused, the Chair put a hold on the bill and didn't allow the hearing to take place.
It is outrageous that Assembly Member Hall would use political maneuvering to block the hearing on this important public health measure. The Committee Chair deserves a Dirty Ashtray Award for his behavior, and needs to hear from each of us that his actions are unacceptable.Â
What can you do?
Please contact Assembly Member Hall to express your outrage that he is putting the tobacco industry’s interests ahead of the health of his fellow Californians. Â
Click here to send Assembly Member Hall an email, or you can make a call to his District Office at (310) 223-1201 or his Capitol Office at (916) 319-2052.
Tobacco company influences should not block this important public health policy that would be an important step forward to expanding smokefree protections to many California workers who are still exposed to toxic tobacco smoke on the job.
Are tobacco contributions influencing Assembly Member Hall?
Assembly Member Hall has accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Altria (Philip Morris) and RJ Reynolds, the two largest cigarette companies in the U.S. To look up tobacco industry contributions to California lawmakers, visit the American Lung Association in California’s site Big Tobacco: tobacco money in California.
Stay tuned to ANR for developments on what lies ahead for the effort and how you can stay involved.
