A bill in the Pennsylvania state House that would ban smoking on casino floors is set for a vote this week that could move the legislation to the House floor.
House Bill 1657, also known as the Protecting Workers from Secondhand Smoke Act, would end the casino exemption in the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act of 2008, banning smoking inside Pennsylvania casinos.
Allegheny County Rep. Dan Frankel, the bill’s sponsor, told PlayPennsylvania.com he will hold a vote of the Health Committee, which he chairs, on Wednesday, November 15, to move the legislation to the House floor for a vote.
There will be 25 total people voting at the meeting, 14 of which are Democrats and the rest Republicans. Frankel told PlayPennsylvania that the bill will be up for consideration to all 25 in attendance. Each member gets a chance to offer amendments to the bill, which get voted on one at a time. The bill is then up for consideration again with the amendments placed in. A simple majority moves the bill forward.
“I’m totally certain the bill will come out of committee with an affirmative vote and I’m pretty certain that we will have bipartisan support,” Frankel told PlayPennsylvania. “It may not be unanimous, but we will have bipartisan support.”
Frankel added that he’s never brought a bill forward that’s been defeated at the committee vote.
“I don’t bring a bill to the committee without knowing if it’s going to pass.”
Efforts to ban smoking inside casinos have escalated since Parx, the state’s most profitable casino, banned smoking and still finished first in slot revenue last year, remaining the top-grossing casino.
