South Dakota’s smoking ban petition drive could go up in smoke

AT ISSUE: The opponents of the recently passed smoking ban legislation,mostly bar and casino owners, swear they are going to kill the ban with a state-wide election. Even if they are successful with the petition drive and election, I feel about all they will have accomplished will be delaying the smoking ban until after the 2010 General Election. The proof of the pudding here is the vast majority of South Dakotans favored the ban when it was working its way through the last session of the Legislature. I suspect that same support will be reflected in the ballot box.

THE JOURNEY of the smoking ban legislation through the recent session of the South Dakota Legislature was most interesting. When the smoke finally cleared, the bill passed both houses and was sent to the governor for his signature. Governor Rounds let it sit on his desk until just before the legislators returned to Pierre for their final day. Was he or wasn’t he going to sign it into law? That was the big question. Another question here was if he did sign the legislation into law, would it be referred to a vote of the people?

He had said several times he was opposed to smoking. However, the predicted loss of tax revenue could have kept him from putting his signature on the dotted line. Well, both questions have now been answered.

SOUTH DAKOTA VOTERS now have to wait and see if the opponents of the smoking ban will be able to secure the valid signatures of 16,776 voters by the deadline date of June 29 to refer the smoking ban to a public vote in the November 2010 General Election. If they do get the needed signatures, the smoking ban would be suspended from taking effect until the voters decide its fate next year.

There is enough Populist in me to give my full support for both the Referendum and the Initiative. As I have mentioned before, both are South Dakota products being born in our state. The Referendum, of course, refers legislative actions to a vote of the people and the Initiative gives the voters of the state authority to initiate law.

I would like to see that it was an impossibility to get the required number of valid signatures on the petitions by the June 29 deadline. But, at the same time, if they do, I have no problem taking the smoking ban to a vote of the people. I just hope the voters of South Dakota will stand by their guns in support of the smoking ban and vote down its demise.

OPPONENTS OF the smoking ban argue on two fronts. First, it should be the owner’s decision whether he or she allows smoking in his or her business and, secondly, if the smoking ban stays, businesses like bars and casinos will lose profits and, thus, the  state will lose millions of dollars in tax revenue.

Coordinating the petition drive is Larry Mann, who represents the Video Lottery Establishments of South Dakota. He thinks the smoking ban is such an economic issue that the voters “need to weigh in.”

At the same time, Jennifer Stalley, who is with the American Cancer Society, told the Associated Press that she feels the people of South Dakota are expecting to be smoke free on  July 1.

ACCORDING TO The Associated Press, “The new law would ban smoking in bars, Deadwood casinos and video lottery establishments. It extends a ban that has outlawed smoking in most public places and workplaces since 2002. Beginning in July, smoking would be allowed only in motel rooms and a limited number of cigar bars and smoke shops.”

An economist from the governor’s budget office is predicting the state could lose video lottery revenue for a while, but it will return.

But as I said last week, the loss of tax revenue is trumped by the health issues caused by smoking. A former director of a nursing home told me that the illnesses of a number of residents was directly traced to either their smoking habits or from second hand smoke. We have seen a number of statistics indicating smoking is the culprit in a number of illnesses. At  the same time, can anyone list any benefits of smoking? Yea, some might say it kills my anxieties or it kills my appetite, but they forget that smoking simply kills as well….

Gordon Garnos was long-time editor of the Watertown Public Opinion and recently retired after 39 years with that newspaper. Garnos, a lifelong resident of South Dakota except for his military service in the U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Presho.

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