Restrict Smoking In Outdoor Locations

Lighting up in the Orchard City just got a little trickier.

At the Campbell City Council meeting on Sept. 20, the council approved an ordinance that prohibits smoking cigarettes within outdoor dining areas and public recreational facilities. The city council also directed Campbell staff to research the possibility of establishing a buy cigarette online retailer's license, which would be aimed at curbing the sale of cheap cigarette online to minors.

The item elicited more than an hour of public comment and council discussion before the final 4-1 vote was taken. More than 30 people attended the meeting, several of them wearing T-shirts that read "Live Work Play, Be Tobacco Free."

Vanessa Marvin, a representative of the American Lung Association and Healthy Campbell Coalition, said that both of the public health-focused organizations she belongs to strongly support the strengthening of anti-smoking cigarettes policies.

"We're really excited to see that you're taking steps to protect Campbell residents from deadly secondhand smoke cigarettes and urge you to vote yes on this ordinance and to consider the tobacco retailer licensing ordinance," Marvin said to the council.

She added that through community outreach conducted by the Healthy Campbell Coalition, she has spoken with numerous residents and gathered local opinions on the proposed ordinance.

"We did speak to residents at farmers markets, we went to the Hamann Park National Night Out, the Westchester Park block party, and not all but overwhelmingly [most] residents were really supportive of this and urged you to move forward on this issue," Marvin said.

Many of the people Marvin talked with couldn't make it to the council meeting, but she provided the councilmen with a large pile of endorsement papers signed by supportive residents.

Santa Clara County health officer Dr. Marty Fenstersheib also spoke to the council and commended them for tackling tobacco and smoking cigarettes.

"I want to applaud you and your staff for developing this wonderful draft ordinance on prohibiting smoking cigarettes in outdoor dining and parks," Fenstersheib said. "This is a great effort on the part of the city of Campbell."

He also reminded the council and the public that this issue comes down to majority rule.

"Just remember that 10 percent of our population smokes. The number is low but still not great," Fenstersheib said. "But that means 90 percent of the people don't smoke, so there are a lot of people in those restaurants that don't want to be exposed to secondhand smoke."

He also had some good news for everyone at the meeting. According to Fenstersheib, Santa Clara County was awarded a total of $6.9 million from the federal government to use for tobacco prevention efforts.

The city of Campbell can have $40,000 of those funds, but the money has to be used by March 2012.

"We will give you all the support that you need, but we need you to do this before March," Fenstersheib said.

After closing the public hearing, the city council weighed the different aspects of the proposed ordinance. Mayor Jason Baker was in favor of prohibiting smoking cigarettes in outdoor dining areas and public recreational facilities, but expressed a concern about another problem that might result from doing so.

"We might be creating an unenforceable ordinance and an unintentional litter problem," Baker said.

He explained that although he would like to prevent everyone from smoking cigarettes in parks, it just isn't possible, and that by banning it and eliminating all of the ashtrays in the process, the city might end up with a litter hazard on its hands.

Councilman Jeff Cristina, who cast the sole "no" vote on the issue, felt that the ordinance would force people out of Campbell.

"This frustrates me a bit," Cristina said. "I would hate to see Katie Bloom's, or an establishment like that, have no one outside."

Vice Mayor Mike Kotowski provided the opposite view.

"I would like to see a big sign over the freeway that's says, 'Welcome to Campbell, a smoke-free city,' " Kotowski said, garnering applause from several members of the audience.

Councilman Evan Low agreed that an aggressive approach against smoking cigarettes would best fit the city.

"I would like to see Campbell be the strongest in terms of the tobacco retailer permit, in looking at ways to have funds to do enforcement and to also prevent tobacco use not only among young people but also to prevent tobacco," Low said.

The city council will need to approve a second reading of the ordinance at a future city council meeting, and the issue of the tobacco retailer's license will be researched by staff and brought back to council at a later date.

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Shumlin Cuts Deal With Campbell On Cigarette Tax

Gov. Peter Shumlin has been spending more time at the Statehouse this week. He even paid a visit to the cafeteria on Wednesday to break bread with House Speaker Shap Smith and others. (The governor has graced the dining hall a handful of times over the course of the session.)

It’s not the governor’s usual breakfast haunt, and so when he walks into the room with his security entourage in tow, Shumlin draws a fair amount of attention.

It was a reminder that the governor has been a presence in the Statehouse this week.

Shumlin has been lobbying senators to drop the cigarette tax.

Shumlin has said from the beginning of the session that he would object to the levy on tobacco, but no one in the building knew just how aggressively he would protect that stance — until this week.

Shumlin has pressed senators to agree with his anti-cigarette position, despite Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell’s objections. The governor was determined to levy a $3.2 million tax on the dentists, which both the House and the Senate have refused to impose in the miscellaneous tax bill.

“The governor was adamantly opposed to a cigarette tax — especially a $1 a pack tax — so he (Shumlin) talked to several members in the Senate,” Campbell said.

That was yesterday. Today it appeared that support in the Senate for the tax, Campbell said, “wasn’t as strong as he wanted it to be,” and so he negotiated with Shumlin to drop the increase to 53 cents and instead bump up the assessment on health insurance claims from 0.65 percent to 0.9 percent.

Shumlin has insisted on a provider tax for dentists; Campbell refused to agree to the proposed assessment.

So, is the governor throwing his weight around more than usual? Campbell says Shumlin’s tactics are typical of any governor. Campbell characterized the meetings with individual senators as the governor’s prerogative, and he said both Gov. Howard Dean and Gov. Jim Douglas pulled lawmakers aside to change their votes on a given issue. “He’s well within his rights to bring members in,” Campbell said. “That happened all the time.”

As for the Statehouse scuttlebutt that Shumlin is attempting to run the Senate from the Fifth Floor, Campbell says: “People are going to say whatever they want…“Anyone who thinks I’m doing Peter Shumlin’s bidding is wrong. I think it’s been clear I’m my own person. My intention is to protect the Senate’s position.”

The resolution of the tax bill revenue sourcing paves the way for passage of the budget bill.

Budget bill cuts state spending by 3.7 percent over fiscal year 2011

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted out the Big Bill 5-0 on Wednesday, and it’s scheduled to hit the floor on Thursday.

The committee’s budget for fiscal year 2012 is largely based on the House bill. The total state budget for fiscal year 2012 is $4.68 billion, and that total represents 3.7 percent less than the previous year’s expenditures, according to the Joint Fiscal Office. Over a three year period, state spending has increased 2.3 percent.

The total General Fund budget spending increased by 7.3 percent in fiscal year 2012. That’s because the state had to replace $158 million in stimulus funding for core programs with General Fund dollars. The overall increase in the General Fund budget from 2009 to 2012, is 2.6 percent, according to the Joint Fiscal Office.

Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, described the budget process as a “daunting task.”

“The reductions are marbled throughout state government,” Kitchel said.

The Senate’s budget deviates from the House version by about $500,000. The governor had recommended more dramatic cuts to human services. Both the House and Senate agreed to soften the reductions in programs for the elderly, the developmentally disabled and the mentally ill. All three areas of the Agency of Human Services budget, however, took significant reductions.

The designated agencies will see a $5.5 million reduction (including Medicaid matching money) in funding for services to Vermonters who are developmentally disabled or mentally ill.

Funding for respite care and personal assistants for elderly Vermonters was not fully restored. The programs could see an $800,000 reduction unless, as expected, the Choices for Care program, which provides supports for seniors who want to stay in their own homes, saves money on nursing home care.

Shumlin eliminated the substance abuse counselor program for local high schools; lawmakers funded the positions at a 50 percent level.
The Vermont Employee Ownership Center is zeroed out.
The Area Agencies on Aging will see a $180,000 cut.
The budget includes $29 million in the human services caseload reserve. That money is a cushion in the event that demand for services increases again, as they did at the beginning of the recession.
Kitchel said they didn’t include $4.1 million in payments on interest for Unemployment Insurance from the federal government that were forgiven.
Any revenue above the forecast level would be set aside for the state’s Unemployment Insurance interest payment; another waterfall contingency plan would reserve money for unanticipated federal cuts to programs.

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