Atlantic City casino employees and anti-smoking advocates were frustrated after Democratic state Senate leaders delayed a committee vote on a bill to ban smoking on casino floors, saying the measure did not have enough votes to pass.
The bill, S264, would eliminate exemptions to the 2006 New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act for casinos and simulcast facilities to the law, which banned smoking in indoor public spaces. The bill has 26 co-sponsors, and a companion bill in the Assembly has 57 co-sponsors.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has said he will sign any casino smoking ban that reaches his desk.
The casino industry and its lobbyists have fought the measure, claiming a smoking ban would slash revenues and force some properties to close. Supporters in the legislature failed to clear the smoking ban during the regular session, but managed to get it on the agenda for the current lame-duck session.
Supporters of the legislation, headed by the group of Atlantic City casino employees known as Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) and the national group Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR), had anticipated a scheduled vote of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee that would have sent the measure to a floor vote. More than 100 casino employees packed the committee’s hearing room.
At the last minute, though, the committee’s chairman, state Senator Joseph Vitale, said the measure was one vote short of the support required to move the bill to the floor. He also said the committee will now consider alternatives to a total ban being pushed by the casino operators, including enclosed “Philip Morris smoking rooms”—separate rooms including slots and tables where smoking would be permitted and where employees would volunteer to work.
Senator Fred Madden proposed an amendment that would set up an 18-month phase-in period to set up the smoking rooms. “There could be a compromise put on the table that could bring the votes… that will ensure it passes,” Madden said, according to the Associated Press. “I feel extremely confident that people will lose their jobs” (under a full ban). I didn’t sup up to this to start taking people’s livelihoods away, but it’s extremely important to put health first, and that’s what I’m trying to do here.”
Employees who had driven the 90 miles from Atlantic City to Trenton to witness the vote were furious. “It’s incredible that we’re here begging again to have the same thing everyone else has,” Borgata dealer Lamont White, one of the leaders of CEASE, told the AP. “We have to endure hours on the job with secondhand smoke in our faces without the ability to turn away,” added Nicole Vitola, another Borgata dealer.
CEASE and ANR were quick to respond with statements, with CEASE reserving particular criticism for the idea of Philip Morris smoking rooms where employees would supposedly volunteer to work. “It’s an absurd idea, and every legislator should reject it,” the group said.
Cynthia Hallett, president and CEO of ANR, said in a statement that there is still hope the bill will move during the lame-duck session.
“Casinos and their lobbyists waited until the last minute to engage in this discussion,” Hallett said, “and legislators clearly need more time to understand the repercussions of dangerous amendments they are unveiling at the 11th hour that would hurt the most vulnerable casino workers.
“We are confident that as these consequences are made clear in the coming days, especially of Philip Morris smoking rooms, legislators will vote to finally close the casino smoking loophole and protect every worker’s health. The scare tactics from casinos are tired and no longer apply in a post-Covid world. There is no compromising on workers’ health and we are confident legislators will get the job done during lame-duck.”
The ANR statement also pointed out that claims of dire economic consequences by the industry have been disproven, with one recent study showing that non-smoking casinos actually outperform casinos where smoking is permitted.
