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The Resolution Project - Local authority
to protect public health
1. This Resolution Project will demonstrate
demand for local authority regarding smokefree air legislation.
The New Jersey League of Municipalities,
the New Jersey Local Boards of Health Association, and a
number of health and other organizations have launched a
project to demonstrate demand for local authority to protect
public health. Specifically, this resolution project supports
freedom to enact local smokefree indoor air legislation.
The partners in the project are asking
local governments and boards of health, state and local
organizations, and others to pass a resolution supporting
state legislation “to repudiate or repeal any preemption
of local smokefree air legislation, and to reiterate or
restore the authority of local governments to enact and
enforce local controls on tobacco use to protect public
health.”
2. This Resolution Project is necessary
because local government authority to control tobacco has
been attacked.
Thwarting local tobacco-control laws is
a core strategy of the tobacco industry and its allies.
Two central tactics are (1) lawsuits, or the threat of lawsuits,
against local governments that enact local tobacco-control
ordinances and (2) promoting and supporting preemption –
the passage of state laws that eliminate the authority of
local governments to enact tobacco-control ordinances. New
Jersey local governments have endured both tactics.
In 1990, New Jersey municipalities began passing ordinances
to protect children by eliminating or restricting tobacco
vending machines. Eleven municipalities that passed ordinances
were sued by tobacco vendors. The industry lawsuits included
arguments that state law preempted local legislation. Even
after the New Jersey Supreme Court, in 1994, upheld East
Brunswick’s vending ban, tobacco vendors continued
to sue other towns. Ultimately, the communities prevailed
in their right to enact local legislation controlling tobacco
vending machines, and the industry temporarily stopped those
intimidation tactics.
During 1993-2000, seven New Jersey municipalities passed
smokefree air legislation for indoor workplaces and public
places, including restaurants. Glassboro, Linwood, and Pitman
made restaurants smokefree; Linwood’s ordinance also
included other public places. Marlboro, Lawrence, and Secaucus
enacted partial smokefree ordinances for restaurants. Highland
Park made workplaces smokefree.
In June 2000, after a year and a half of research and public
hearings, the Princeton Regional Health Commission, serving
the Township and Borough, enacted a comprehensive smokefree
air ordinance for workplaces and public places, including
restaurants and bars. The National Smokers Alliance (NSA),
a Virginia-based entity, sued the municipalities, claiming
state preemption. Two Princeton restaurants and one tavern
joined in the lawsuit.
Tobacco companies were the biggest funders
of the NSA, according to the California Attorney General's
office; Philip Morris, Brown and Williamson, and Lorillard
tobacco companies gave the NSA $42 million from 1993 to
1996. The 2000 Surgeon General's Report (page 254) documented
that the NSA's total income in 1996 was more than $9 million
but it collected only $74,000 in dues, enough dues for only
7,400 members, although it "boasts that it is 'a nonprofit,
grass-roots membership organization with more than 3 million
members.'"
On August 29, 2000, the New Jersey Superior
Court of Mercer County ruled that the state smokefree air
legislation, passed in the 1980s, preempted the Princeton
ordinance. Princeton did not appeal this Mercer County Superior
Court decision.
Since then, Manville has made workplaces
and public places smokefree, specifically excluding restaurants
and bars because of fear of lawsuit. More than 15 ordinances
have been passed making other indoor areas smokefree, though
none includes restaurants and bars. Also, more than 70 municipalities
have enacted smokefree air legislation for outdoor areas
-- manifesting continued interest in controlling tobacco
use and making New Jersey the smokefree outdoor air leader
in the nation.
Still, a number of other municipalities
report that uncertainty about their authority and fear of
a lawsuit like Princeton’s has deterred them from
enacting smokefree indoor air legislation, especially for
restaurants.
3. This Resolution Project was begun
in autumn 2003. Public launch, March 2004. Documented demand
for local authority is scheduled to be announced in May 2004.
In autumn 2003, New Jersey GASP, the Group
Against Smoking Pollution, began discussing this resolution
project with the New Jersey Prevention Network, which coordinates
county Community Against Tobacco (CAT) coalitions, the League
of Municipalities, the Local Boards of Health Association,
health organization colleagues, and others. Late in 2003,
GASP, the Prevention Network, the League, and the Boards
of Health Association decided to proceed with this resolution
project.
In January 2004, Assemblywoman Loretta
Weinberg, who has introduced legislation to repeal/repudiate
preemption and to enact non-preemptive smokefree air legislation,
asked representatives of New Jersey Breathes, the statewide
tobacco-control coalition, for documentation that New Jersey
local governments want clear authority to control tobacco
use. At its January meeting, New Jersey Breathes, which
has more than 50 statewide organizations, predominantly
health organizations, as members, voted to join in this
local-authority resolution project.
In March 2004 the resolution will be mailed
to all New Jersey mayors by the League, to all local boards
of health by the Boards of Health Association, and to all
health officers by New Jersey GASP. All other project participants,
organizations, colleagues, and other interested parties
will be notified by email. The goal is to have a significant
number of resolutions passed by May 31, 2004, World No Tobacco
Day.
4. This Resolution Project is supported
by many statewide organizations and other entities.
Partners in the project, in addition to
the New Jersey League of Municipalities, the New Jersey
Local Boards of Health Association, the New Jersey Group
Against Smoking Pollution (GASP), and the New Jersey Prevention
Network with its county CAT coalitions, include the New
Jersey Health Officers Association, and New Jersey Breathes
– the statewide tobacco-control coalition with more
than 50 member organizations including the American Cancer
Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung
Association, and the Medical Society of New Jersey. Additional
participants include health, consumer, environmental, civic,
good government, service, youth, educational, and religious
organizations; unions; community groups including individual
religious congregations; businesses including restaurants
and bars; and others.
5. How will this Resolution Project proceed?
After the March 2004 mailing to mayors,
local boards of health, and health officers, partner organizations
will encourage local governments to pass the resolution.
Partner organizations will also pass the resolution or a
policy statement themselves and will seek additional participants
for the project.
Copies of signed resolutions should be
sent to New Jersey GASP, which will track all the resolutions.
On its website (www.njgasp.org) New Jersey GASP will post
who passed resolutions (local government unit, organization,
or other entity); what they passed (this resolution, other
resolutions – see below); when they did it; and their
location.
New Jersey GASP will also notify state
legislators about governments, organizations, and other
entities in their districts that passed resolutions.
Then project participants will reach out
to the New Jersey Legislature, Governor McGreevey, the media,
and the public with the documented demand for local authority.
6. Complementary projects
Local affiliates of the American Cancer
Society have been, for a year or two, encouraging municipalities
to pass resolutions in favor of specific proposed state
legislation (from past legislative sessions) to repudiate/repeal
preemption and/or enact statewide smokefree air laws. More
than 20 municipalities have passed such resolutions. New
Jersey GASP will also track these resolutions.
New Jersey Breathes began a “Spare the Air”
campaign to collect citizen signatures on a petition in
favor of smokefree air in workplaces and public places in
all communities. Various organizations, especially county
CAT coalitions and REBEL (Reach Everyone by Exposing Lies)
youth coalitions, gathered almost 50,000 signatures by June
2003. New Jersey Breathes tracks these petitions. New Jersey
GASP's resolution tracking will note this complementary
project and the current total of signatures.
Representatives of the religious community in New Jersey
and New Jersey Breathes called for increased tobacco-control
funding on January 22, 2004 and also endorsed smokefree
air legislation. That call was part of a national appeal
to governors. The religious community plans to be active
in this local-authority resolution project.
Many organizational partners in this project also support
statewide, non-preemptive, smokefree air legislation and
plan to pass resolutions to that effect (Resolution B).
Some of these partners also plan to encourage others, including
local governments, to sign such resolutions as well. New
Jersey GASP will track Resolution B.
7. Tracking and technical assistance
for the projects
New Jersey GASP will track the passage
of resolutions (as described on page 3, second full paragraph
and following), will track project participants and facilitate
communication among participants, and will provide coordination
and technical assistance.
March 2004
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