Posted on: December 24, 2024, 02:09h.
Last updated on: December 23, 2024, 04:10h.
A former New Jersey lawmaker who helped write the state’s Smoke-Free Air Act nearly two decades ago says it’s long past time that the loophole for casinos is extinguished.
Loretta Weinberg (D) served in Trenton for three decades. After representing the 37th District in the General Assembly from 1992 until 2005, the Democrat moved to the state Senate where she represented Bergen County until she retired in 2022. She was the majority leader of the chamber for the final 10 years of her career.
Among her most notable pieces of legislation was Assembly Bill 3730 during the 2004-2005 session. The New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act prohibited indoor tobacco use in most public places and workplaces.
Weinberg was the primary sponsor of AB3730. Since she moved from the General Assembly to the Senate during the anti-smoking considerations, she became a primary sponsor of the Senate companion measure, Senate Bill 1926, upon arriving in the upper chamber.
AB3730 was eventually substituted by SB1926. The Senate version garnered strong support after lawmakers reached compromises with “big tobacco” to provide certain exemptions. The Smoke-Free Air Act was signed into law in January 2006 by Gov. Richard Codey (D).
Time to Fold on Casino Loophole
Writing an op-ed this past Sunday in The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s most circulated daily newspaper, Weinberg opined that it’s time state lawmakers end indoor casino smoking in Atlantic City.
I fought the powerful tobacco industry and the third-party advocates the industry manipulated and mobilized to fight smoking restrictions. Unfortunately, we were unable to pass the Act unless we excluded casino workers from its protections. We simply did not have the votes, so we acquiesced, trying to protect as many people as possible while expecting to close this unjustified loophole in the near future,” Weinberg explained.
“I never imagined that nearly two decades later, casino workers and patrons would still be subjected to poisonous secondhand smoke,” she continued.
The 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act allows casinos that have a state-issued gaming license and house a minimum of 150 slot machines, 10 table games, or some combination thereof approved by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, to designate areas for indoor tobacco use.
“It is time to release the grip of the tobacco industry on the hearts and lungs of our family, friends, and neighbors. They are not the cost of doing business. They are not expendable. They are human beings who simply want the same safe workplace as everyone else,” Weinberg declared.
Call for Action
In her editorial, Weinberg said the tobacco industry in 2005 used fear and misinformation to convince Atlantic City casino unions and hospitality groups to spearhead its fight against the state’s smoke-free air bill.
The Surgeon General of the United States issued a report this year, ‘Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death,’ which reveals exactly how the tobacco industry manipulated third-party actors — such as unions — through fear and misinformation, to lobby against their own health and safety. Let that sink in: workers and unions were led to fight against their own right to breathe clean air,” Weinberg wrote.
One of the casino unions — Unite Here Local 54 — continues to oppose efforts to ban indoor smoking in Atlantic City. The Casino Association of New Jersey (CANJ) does, too.
The union, which represents non-gaming workers like housekeepers, kitchen workers, waitstaff, and bellmen, shares the belief with CANJ that a smoking prohibition would lead to job layoffs. A union that represents table game dealers and slot attendants, however, supports a smoking ban.
Legislation to close the Atlantic City indoor smoking loophole is expected to again be considered in Trenton next year.
“The Legislature could finally, quickly, end this long-running travesty because we now know the truth. Senator Joe Vitale and others have been fighting for casino workers for years. How many more workers have to suffer, get sick, or die before we act?” Weinberg concluded.
