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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Mike
Storm |
State Rep. Michael
Gerber |
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Gerber’s ‘Smoke-Free Pa.’ bill clears House intact
Statewide smoking ban heads to Senate without laundry list of exceptions
HARRISBURG, July 16 – Today, the Smoke-Free Pennsylvania Act, sponsored in the House by state Rep. Michael Gerber, D-Montgomery, passed its final vote in that chamber. Gerber remarked that getting his bill through the House without a laundry list of amendments required a tough fight, but was a fight worth fighting.
“Our success thus far is due to the passionate support of my colleagues who care deeply about protecting the health and well-being of Pennsylvanians from the dangers of secondhand smoke. This has been a true bipartisan effort,” Gerber explained. “I thank and commend all of my colleagues who chose to put public health above the economic concerns of special interests.”
Gerber and his band of bipartisan supporters fought to defeat multiple damaging amendments that would have produced a much weaker smoking ban, similar to the exception-laden legislation passed by the Senate earlier this summer.
The bill (S.B. 246) would provide a smoke-free environment in all public places across Pennsylvania, protecting people from the hazardous effects of secondhand smoke and potentially reducing smokers’ intake while saving millions of dollars in health-care costs. Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, is the prime sponsor in the Senate and a close family friend of Gerber’s. He too prefers few exceptions to the ban.
Gerber’s proposal was bolstered by significant bipartisan support in the House, as well as from Gov. Rendell, Greenleaf, the Pennsylvania Hospital Association, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, the Mainline Chamber and the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association.
The legislation now returns to the Senate for consideration.
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