Speak up now to save smokefree air in Indiana

Publication Date: 2012-03-05

Indiana’s legislature is on the verge of passing one of the weakest, Big Tobacco-friendly smoking laws in the country.

Please call or email your Senator TODAY to urge him/her to tell the conference committee to kill the smoking bill, unless it is strengthened to both protect local control and to protect the health of Indiana workers rather than tobacco and casino industry lobbyists.

You can find out who your Senator is, and his/her contact information, here: http://district.iga.in.gov/DistrictLookup

Talking points:

• Urge your Senator to tell the conference committee to kill the smoking bill unless it 1) protects local control and 2) protects the state’s 13,000+ casino workers, and Indiana’s bar workers.  
• Smokefree laws should not leave behind casino and bar workers. They are DYING from secondhand smoke and deserve the dignity of clean air in the workplace, just like everyone else.  19 other states already have smokefree casinos.  29 states have smokefree bars and restaurants.
• Tell your state lawmakers to protect local control.  Preemption of local governments from smokefree air is unacceptable. It is not a new idea. It is not a local idea. It is a tactic from Philip Morris and the tobacco industry. 
• The legislation would fulfill Philip Morris’ long-term goal of preemption in Indiana.  It would strip away local control from cities and counties to be able to enact strong local smokefree ordinances in the future. 

P.S. Here is the list of lawmakers on the Conference Committee considering the weak smokefree bill. If you live in their district, you have an especially important voice for protecting local control, and for a law that is strong and covering all job sectors fairly, not leaving behind the people who are most exposed to secondhand smoke on the job.  Lawmaker Lookup: http://dstrict.iga.in.gov/DistrictLookup

 

 

 

 

 

 

To learn more about preemption, check out our factsheet highlighting Big Tobacco’s own quotes about why they try to undermine local control: http://protectlocalcontrol.org/resource.php?id=8069.

Thanks for taking action!