Update; Evans bill passed

[Angela Bradbery]

Here's an update on the Evans "emergency" bill we told you about earlier today: It passed, unfortunately. First, the vote was 8-5. Then, a few minutes later, the Council revisited the matter and approved it 10-3. Even worse.

 

Please thank Council Chairman Vincent Gray and Councilmembers Phil Mendelson and Kwame Brown for their principled votes against Evans' proposal. Feel free to express your disappointment to the other Councilmembers. Contact info. is at http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/contactuscouncil. The ones who changed their votes were Yvette Alexander and Marion Barry.

 

The legislation grants an exemption to the smokefree workplaces law for hotels with ballrooms that  hold more than 500 people.  Evans is a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, which wants to smoke cigars at its annual St. Patrick's Day event and now will be able to.

 

This is terrible policy for several reasons:

 

1) Those who work the event will be breathing secondhand smoke, which causes cancer. The Council decided several years ago that this was unacceptable, which is why it passed the smokefree workplaces law;

2) It encourages other groups to seek exemptions, which could further weaken the law; and

3) It tells voters that the democratic process of lawmaking – the hearings, the testimony, the debate, the votes – doesn’t really matter if the Council wants to arbitrarily give friends a break and let them violate the law.

 

Angela Bradbery

Co-founder, Smokefree DC