Democratic New Jersey state Senator John Burzichelli has introduced a compromise bill to amend the casino exemption to the state’s indoor smoking act with a plan more likely to be accepted by Atlantic City casino operators than the complete smoking ban recently approved by a Senate committee.
Burzichelli’s bill would maintain permission of smoking on 25 percent of casino floors as it stands today, but would implement a few restrictions aimed at ensuring employee health.
Under the bill, smoking would be permitted where designated by signage on the casino floors, “in unenclosed interior designated smoking areas which contain slot machines or other electronic games, but shall not include areas of the casino floor and casino simulcasting facility that are 15 feet or less from any casino pits offering table games with live dealers.”
The bill would also provide for enclosed interior designated smoking rooms “equipped with a ventilation system that is separately exhausted from other interior areas of the casino,” separated “by solid walls or windows, a ceiling, and a solid door” from surrounding areas. The bill stipulates that no employee will be assigned to such smoking rooms “unless the employee voluntarily chooses to work in the designated enclosed interior smoking area.”
In comments to reporters, Burzichelli, who is a former deputy speaker of the state Assembly, repeated the standard industry line that a complete smoking ban would hurt business and force some casinos to close.
“It’s about what we can do to keep casinos open, and how do we get it right,” Burzichelli told NBC 10 Philadelphia. “Losing one casino means thousands of jobs lost.”
That argument, of course, has been disputed by the anti-smoking groups that have driven the campaign for a complete smoking ban, who typically point to evidence that banning indoor smoking has led to higher revenues. They emphasize that Parx in Bensalem, Pennsylvania has remained the highest-grossing casino in the state despite implementation of a complete indoor smoking ban.
Smoking opponents were quick to assail the compromise bill. Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Harmful Effects (CEASE), the group formed by Atlantic City table game dealers that has rallied for a complete ban, issued a statement calling Burzichelli’s bill “Big Tobacco and casino industry talking points, copied and pasted.”
“This bill would retain the same level of smoking as is currently permitted and will not decrease in any way the amount of exposure workers have to secondhand smoke,” the statement read. The statement added that Governor Phil Murphy, like Burzichelli a Democrat, has already pledged to sign a total smoking ban into law.
In a separate statement, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network urged New Jersey lawmakers to reject the compromise bill and enact the total smoking ban.
“Since the 1980s, we’ve known that secondhand smoke can cause cancer, along with a host of other devastating health effects, like heart disease,” the group said in a statement. “Yet despite the crystal-clear proof that exposure to secondhand smoke is bad, and that smoke-free laws work, lawmakers continue to force Atlantic City workers to choose between their paycheck and breathing in secondhand smoke.”
The new bill also has drawn criticism in the media. “Although it adds some minor restrictions,” said an editorial in the South Jersey Times, “Burzichelli’s bill basically says, ‘If ya got ‘em, keep on smoking ‘em,’ the health of dealers, servers, slot attendants and non-smoking patrons be damned.”
Legislation that would repeal the casino exemption to the 2006 Clean Indoor Air Act and impose a total ban on smoking was cleared last month by the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. That bill, sponsored by Senator Joe Vitale, has yet to be scheduled for a floor vote. Burzachelli’s bill has been assigned to the same committee, but no hearings have as yet been scheduled.
