Update on our Political Action Plan

Throughout this experience our blog has definitely made an impact on our fellow classmates. All of the comments we received were in support of our blog and in support of the complete smoking ban in Virginia. We have also had a positive comment on our political action plan. One of the steps in our plan was to develop a support system starting with our fellow nursing community and outward to restaurant owners and others throughout Virginia. So far we have gotten the support from our nursing peers. The rest of our action plan involves bringing this attention to our local and state legislators throughout Virginia with each of us emailing letters out to numerous legislators locally and also to the governor. We have also received a few emails from some of the legislators we’ve contacted. Senator Houck said that he appreciated the blog and expressed that he will periodically review further comments on this subject. Governor Kaine and Congressman Perriello also appreciated our interest in this matter. Hopefully we can continue to gain support from our legislators and peers for a complete smoking ban in the state of Virginia.

This week we were able to contact different representatives throughout the state of Virginia to continue to gain and show support for the complete public smoking ban. It is important for our representatives to be able to represent us by knowing and understanding how their constituents feel about the Indoor Clean Air Act and that we are not satisfied with the outcome. Representatives that were contacted were:

Tim Kaine: Tim Kaine is the govener of Virginia. He advocated for the smoking ban bills in 2006. This bill prohibited all smoking in govermental buildings and state owned vehicles. He continuously supports a non-smoking atmosphere for Virginia citizens. We hope to continue to gain his support and demonstrate that progress still needs to be made to completely ban smoking in public places.

Mark Obenshain. Mark serves the 26th Sentorial District in the Virginia General Assembly. He is our sentorial represenative in Rockingham County. As students of James Madison University he is our voice.

Matthew Lohr. Matthew Lohr serves as the 26th House District in the Virginia House of Delegates. He is our represenative here in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It is important for him to be aware of his constituents concerns and as students of James Madison University we are able to express our concerns about the outcome of the Indoor Clean Air Act. Through this we will hopefully be able to gain his support and have our voices heard.

Jerry Connolly. Jerry Connolly represents the 11th district in the Virginia House of Represenatives. Prior to his election he was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County, Virginia. During this time under his leadership, Fairfax County earned Best Mananged Large County in the nation. He was especially interested in environmental stewardship, which shows that he cares about his constiuents health and well-being. Hopefully, we can help gain his support in completely banning smoking in public places in the state of Virginia.

R. Edward Houck. Edward Houck is the Democratic Senator in the 17th District of Virginia. He is a chair on the committee for education and health. His position in helping promote the health of his constiuents will hopefully aid in this representation the ban of public smoking in the state of Virginia.

Tom Perriello. Tom Perriello is a congressman representing the 5th district of Virginia. He is known for his advocacy regarding environmental policy. He has a deep rooted belief in maintaining a environmentally friendly earth and atmosphere to secure the well-being of our nation. His support for completely banning public smoking in the state of Virginia would lead to a healthier environment and greater well-being for the state of Virginia.

Political Action Plan

The first part of our plan is stating the problem with the bill as is. The bill is not aggressive enough, patrons are still exposed to second hand smoke regardless of the ammendments to allow smoking with partitions and separate ventilation units. We believe that the bill that was originally presented to policy makers of Virginia needs to be brought to the table again and passed in full with a full ban on smoking in restaurants. As reported by Dr. Menzies's article (2006) "a number of studies have now established an increased risk of coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and lung cancer, and the 2006 report by the US surgeon general highlighted the causal relationship between secondhand smoke and premature death." The key stakeholders affected by this bill would include the residents of Virginia, the owner's/employees of bars/restaurants, anyone who visits these bars/restaurants (including tourists). The next step to our plan involves developing a support system within the nursing community in Virginia and include restaurant owners and employees throughout the state. We will also attempt to get local representatives to support this cause and vote for the original full ban on smoking bill. As students we come from various communities throughout the state. Each of us can get our local communities and legislators involved by attending town meetings, writing letters, and inviting policy makers to our blog. This way we will gather support from constituents and policy makers around the entire state. Once we have developed a strong support system the next step would be to approach Tim Kaine (Gov.) as well as other top Virginia legislators who have the power to change the current law. It is important for them to see that the people of Virginia are concerned about their health as well as their environment. Virginia is known as a "tobacco state" mostly because of Philip Morris is a top manufactor of tobacco products and one of it's largest factories is located outside of Richmond, VA. Due to this fact, tobacco lobbyists have a financial impact on our state government. Despite this, the health of Virginians and their concern about the dangers of second-hand smoke is more imporant than the power of these tobacco lobbyists.

Original summary of bill introduced to the House.
Virginia Indoor Clean Air Act; penalty. Provides that it shall be unlawful for any person to smoke in any establishment built and operated after July 1, 2010, as a restaurant, unless such establishment is constructed in such a manner that areas where smoking may be permitted are structurally separated from the portion of the restaurant in which smoking is prohibited and such areas contain structurally separated ventilation systems. Additionally, the bill provides that no wait staff or busboys in such restaurants shall be required by the proprietors or person who manages or otherwise controls any such restaurant to work in smoking areas mandated by this section without consent of such employees. The bill prohibits smoking in any building owned or leased by the Commonwealth or agency thereof or any locality. The bill contains technical amendments.

Here is a link to the full bill as of 2-19-09
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?091+ful+HB1703S1

Potential Impact of Smoking Ban

It is no mystery that cigarette smoking has only negative effects on one's health. The smoking ban wants to protect the non-smoking, innocent citizens who work and dine in restaurants and bars from these toxic chemicals. It seems like a simple solution to ban smoking to protect the public's health, therefore, reducing health care costs. Right? Not so easy in the state of Virginia. Philip Morris, one of the largest tobacco producing plants is located just south of Richmond, Virginia. Lobbyists for Philip Morris argue that banning smoking in public places will cause a decrease in revenue which may potentially result in job losses. The American Non-Smokers' Rights Foundation outlines numerous studies conducted by the tobacco industries
(http://no-smoke.org/document.php?id=208). They argue that the studies were inconclusive due to flaws within the research conducted.

The Impact of Clean Indoor Air Exemptions and Preemption Policies on the Prevalence of a Tobacco-Specific Lung Carcinogen Among Nonsmoking Bar and Restaurant Workers proves the need for policy change (http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=19&hid=16&sid=61258509-ee85-4812-b90b-52067528f987%40sessionmgr9). The article outlines that workers exposed to second-hand smoke in restaurant have an increased amount of tobacco specific lung carcinogens in their urine. These carcinogens increase a person's risk for lung cancer and other lung diseases. These diseases have a serious impact on health care costs. If the smoking ban was in effect, less people would be exposed to carcinogens from second-hand smoking which would ultimately reduce health care costs.

As nurses, it is important for us to continue to educate our patients and those in our communities about the effects of smoking. We need to advocate for the elimination of smoking in public places such as, hospitals, college campuses, and work place environments. In conclusion, with the the smoking ban policy in effect the overall health and quality of life of Virginia citizens would increase and our health care costs would decrease.

JMU's , The Breeze, Addresses Smoking Ban

http://breezejmu.org/2009/02/16/smoking-takes-hit-in-virginia/

HB 1703 Indoor Clean Air Act

On February 10, 2009, the HB 1703 Indoor Clean Air Act was passed in the state of Virginia. The original intent of this bill was to ban smoking in all restaurants. However, when the bill went through legislation it was amended with several exceptions. The watered-down version passed, states that "smoking is permitted in restaurants with ventilation systems to reduce the smoke and also in restaurants that have a partition seperating smoking and nonsmoking areas." One of the intentions of the bill was to protect minors from smoking or being exposed to tobbaco smoke.
Tim Kaine and the democratic party were the sponsors of the total smoking ban bill. However, the republican party and tobacco lobbyists wouldn't except the total ban and watered down the original intent of the ban making it a partial smoking ban.

The partial ban is not going to have the overall effects that the total ban will have. The potential problems result in people still being exposed to second hand and third hand smoking (residual on clothing). For example, if a family goes to a restaurant and the parents chose to sit in the smoking section, the minors are still exposed to the smoke. With people still being exposed, the cost of healthcare will not decrease and cancer and lung disease could potentially remain the same or not make a dramatic difference as a total ban would.

In conclusion, the actual problem to this bill is that the partial ban will not have a dramatic effect as the preventative effects of the total bill. In addition, the circulation systems are expensive and have shown to not make a difference. The only way to not be exposed is to not be in the smoke environment all together.