RICHMOND
Looks like Del. Terrie Suit, R-Virginia Beach, may be getting a lot of calls.
The Virginia Beach Restaurant Association is urging people across South Hampton Roads to phone Suit and ask her to revive recently killed legislation that would ban smoking in Virginia restaurants. The group made the request in a full-page advertisement Wednesday in The Virginian-Pilot.
Suit is the only the lawmaker who can breathe life into the legislation, under the rules of the House of Delegates. But she says emphatically that she will not.
A variety of bills to stomp out smoking in all Virginia restaurants or give localities the power to ban it in eateries were killed this month by a seven-member subcommittee of the House General Laws Committee.
Suit, as chairwoman of General Laws, is empowered to ignore the subpanel’s action and bring the bills up for consideration by the entire 22-member committee.
That would be the fair thing to do, officials of the restaurant association say. They say it is unjust that restaurant smoking bans – which affect health and were approved by the 40-member state Senate – can be crushed by only seven of the 100 members in the House of Delegates.
“There’s a lot of support for the legislation,” said Matt Falvey, a past president of the association, which represents about 150 restaurants. “We feel all representatives should have a chance to vote on it.”
Suit said she does not want to waste time on measures that have no chance of passing the full committee. She noted that the state ban was killed 7-0 in the subcommittee. “That does not warrant bringing it up again,” she said.
Among the members of the subcommittee is Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake.
Suit said it would “set a bad precedent” to override the subcommittee. A lthough she supported a smoking ban last year, she said she opposes it this time. She said eateries should be free to decide whether to allow smoking and patrons should be free to choose where to dine.
“It’s so overwhelming, the number of restaurants that have gone smoke-free, that I don’t believe government has to mandate it,” she said.
Falvey said Suit is forgetting about restaurant workers who inhale secondhand smoke. “The employees often can’t vote with their feet,” he said.
The ad is headlined, “An open letter to the dining public.” It decries secondhand smoke and gives the phone number of Suit’s office in Richmond and the e-mail addresses of two powerful Republicans also opposing a ban: Speaker William Howell of Stafford and Majority Leader Morgan Griffith of Salem.
Although the Virginia Beach association supports the ban, many other restaurateurs and groups across the state opposed the legislation, including the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association.
Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com
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VBRA mission statement
MISSION STATEMENT OF THE VBRA
The Virginia Beach Restaurant Association is organized for the following purposes:
- To develop and foster professional standards among those people actively engaged in the foodservice industry.
- To exchange ideas through educational programs and free discussion of
Matters of professional interest directly affecting the economic vitality of the foodservice industry to continuously promote the concept of free enterprise.
- To keep the foodservice community informed of legislative and regulatory issues that will affect the way members conduct business
LOL what a joke!
"to continuously promote the concept of free enterprise"
Reviving The Dead
You lost. Give it up. Why wasted time if it was unanimously rejected? It doesn't have a chance of passing. Let each establishment decide, & let each live with the consequences, good or bad . If you are for smoking in restaurants, then, go to ones that allow it. If you are not , go to one that doesn't allow it. If the decision wasn't the right one, restaurants have one of the highest failure rate of all businesses anyway. "We Shall Never Surrender" Winston Churchill..lol
Smoking Ban
As I said in a prior statement the President of the VBRA made her dad'd restaurant a non smoking establishment 2 days before the VBRA made an announcement of their intentions. Not everyoone that is a member agrees with the ones with the loudest voices. If they did they would have done just was the President of the VBRA did. The restaurants that choose not to be members or join the VBRA may have made a choice to not be members because they simply don't agree with them. Go to VBRA and read their mission. What a joke! They spent membership dues to place an ad that only some of them agreed to. I hope this gets squashed soon. Power to the people.........Power to choice........live and Let Live!
Smoking ban
Let your feet do the walking, if you don't want to go into a restaurant that allows smoking don't. Don't want to work in a smoking restaurant don't. According to Gov. Tim Kaine's website there are 15,000 restaurants, 9,000 are smoke free.
OSHA, a federal agency responsible for work conditions, has never issued regulations on smoking in the workplace because "In normal situations exposures would not exceed permissible exposure limits (PELS)". To be exact OSHA's permissible levels of exposure are 5,000 micrograms per cubic meter. Measurements by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, under DOE, measured the indoor air quality in 16 cities of smokey bars and restaurants: results second hand smoke measured between 9.42 and 14.9 micrograms per cubic meter. Hence, not harmful to anyone.
Tsk, tsk, tsk
I find it terribly ironic that a Restaurant Association is pushing for more regulation on their industry when it is totally un-needed. That the VB group wishes to mandate to all others in the Commonwealth something they are all free to do without government intervention should be very telling.
The restauranteurs do not want to take it upon themselves to go smokefree, unless ALL others are forced to do so? This tells me that such a policy is not all that popular. This group is outright admitting they know if a ban is in place in one town they will lose business to other towns, in other words bans HURT bursiness and they know it. If you want your place to be smokefree, go for it, but let other owners decide for themselves.
For Skoops88:
Dude, what's you're problem? How did you turn a discussion about smoking into an attack on the military? Nothing in his words even indicate an affiliation with the Navy. If you have a problem being around military folks, maybe it's YOU who needs to move to Cowtown, Ohio....
BTW...
This is a country "For the people by the people"... Let the people decide... Put to a vote for the general public. If the people that whine about rights are the majority, then they will prevail.
To John...
Funny is the coward who challenges a girl on a message board... I would love to question your habits to your face. Why do I have the feeling you are just some ignorant, uneducated seaman from cowtown Ohio that comes to this area for 3 years and thinks you actually have a say in how this area is ran? If I am wrong then I am sorry but that still doesn't change the fact of how stupid you sound.
Funny how the cities that have gone smoke free have had little issue after the fact but people still wish to debate this. When the government started mandating sanitary conditions in restaurants did the world come to an end? How about regulations on doctors, dentists and tattoo artists? No, but it sure helped better health and lower insurance rates. If you idiots would just not smoke, there wouldn’t be an issue.
FOR SMOKERS:
Shame, absolute shame upon these people who are trying to save your lives!
JohnT
Your little baiting taunt for me to whine at you when smoking and you "bet I won't do that again" is very amusing. However, it would be more like, if you blew your foul cancer causing stench in my direction, I'll bet you would never do that again! Since I would be the innocent citizen trying to enjoy my day or perform routine tasks, and came upon a selfish smoker spewing his carcinogenic chemicals down my throat, I would be the injured one. You, on the other hand, would be in your own world (smokers are way too self-centered to realize there are many around who are allergic to smoke)slobbering all over the death stick you paid good money for, to line the pockets of tobacco producers. I hate to offend you, John, but doesn't this seem just a little bit moronic. You are paying other rich pigs to produce a product that not only is killing you but compromising the health of everyone around you. If I were mean I would laugh at you. As it is, I feel very sad for you.
see
previous comment obviously made by someone deeply in the throes of nicotine addiction. Hope you get help soon.
it's the owners decision
Don't like smoking in a restaurant or bar? DON'T GO! For goodness sake, it's not rocket science!
If I owned a restaurant/Bar, I will be damned if I let somebody tell me what I can and cannot do!
Kate, I dream of the day that you approach me and start your whining because I'm smoking.. I will bet that you will NEVER do it again (oh please try). Maybe you should send your constant whining and complain to the government instead of message boards and harassing strangers on the street (that alone isn't wise). Btching on a message boards does NOTHING to change laws (unless you just like to btch for lack of anything better to do).
Smoking Bans effects on business
I was a former resident of Virgina and have to laugh everytime I see an article like this. It never fails that there is some who cries that restaurants will be forced to close because of the smokers leaving. Maryland recently passed a statewide smoking ban. The Baltimore Sun published similiar articles with similiar comments before the ban was passed and before it went into effect.
So far there has not been a mass closure of restaurants. If you go into a restaurant, it is still packed. The only thing that has changed is that you can now enjoy your meal. Oh... there are also more smokers out front smoking under the No Smoking signs.
??
Is there actually people out there that don't believe tobacco will eventually be illegal? Maybe it's the nicotine affecting brain function.
Smoking Ban
Fisher is right! This bill should not be decided by 7 committee members chosen by Terry Suit. She has pulled this stunt before by sending the bill to people she knows are pals with the tobacco industry. It's time to let her know we non-smokers are fed up with her shenanigans. She needs to take a hike.
Smoking
Kate asks "Come on, Smokers, show a little concern for others and smoke in your own homes, cars and yards. Why is that so hard?"
Because those will be the next places that government will attempt to ban smoking. With all due respect to your opinions and previous posts on this issue Kate, once government succeeds in banning it from restaurants and bars, then the places you mention will be next. Local government had wanted permission from the legislature to establish ordinances on where people could smoke. Given that power, it is reasonable to assume that they in fact would move to ban people from smoking in the places you mentioned. Give government an inch and they will take a mile. Norfolk has the power to ban smoking in restaurants and bars anyway. Even they are reconsidering it.
I am a former smoker and quit 27 years ago. I patronize restaurants that are smoke free. I don't need government to make choices for me. They make enough as it is.
gasp!
Nicotine related deaths expected to total ONE BILLION people this century. Smoking related death toll in MY family in the generation before mine..almost everyone (50+people)!...stop and buy a few cartons for someone you love tonight!!
Let your voice be heard to the restaurant, not the government
Emland has it right. Write or call the business to let them know your dissatisfaction. When they get enough complaints and they see an effect on their business, then you will have triumphed and will feel far better about yourself than if the government did it for you. Smoking restaurants will one day be a thing of the past, but it needs to be because the free market drove it, not the government.
Keith provided a great list of smoke-free establishments as well as the web site that lists them. What a great resource. Thank you Keith.
I don't smoke and I agree that it is a vile habit. But I, above all else, do not want the government to infringe on our civil liberties whether in business or in private. There are a myriad of issues that effect us health-wise whether directly or in-directly. Cell phone use while drive is one of those. I would be willing to bet that a large majority of those who support the government ban are the offenders who cut me off daily because they're yacking on the cell phone and not paying attention to their driving.
I think anyone over 18
I think anyone over 18 should be able to decide to eat in a smoked filled room if they choose to. I also think that anyone over 18 should be held criminally libel if that person allows someone under 18 to eat in the same smoke filled restaraunt!!This would include the management and parents. Second hand smoke is PROVEN beyond a doubt to have adverse health effects up to and including DEATH! If you are over 18 and choose this form of suicide have at it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smoking Ban
Come on, Smokers, show a little concern for others and smoke in your own homes, cars and yards. Why is that so hard?