Ban on smoking in cars forces into unusual detour by House

House members used a rare rule Wednesday to lift an anti-smoking bill from House floor debate and send it to a standing committee, where its sponsor, Sen. Scott McCoy, predicts it will be killed by conservative Republicans.

The Republicans "see this as a battle between private property rights and kids' health — and they don't want to have to make a floor vote between the two," McCoy, D-Salt Lake, said.

McCoy's SB14, which has already passed the Senate, was being debated on the House floor Wednesday morning when Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, made the motion to send it to the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee for yet another public hearing.

The bill had already had a public hearing in a Senate committee and in the House Health and Human Services Standing Committee — passing all those hurdles.

Wimmer said various law enforcement agencies had not had a chance to give opinions on the bill, which would make it a secondary traffic offense to smoke in a car that carried any five-year-olds or younger children.

McCoy said such youngsters, who must be strapped in a restraining seat, can't escape second-hand smoke and its detrimental effects.

Rep. Ronda Menlove, R-Garland, said studies show that second-hand smoke can cause all kinds of problems for young children, even effect their ability to read. She added that law enforcement officials could have testified before both the Senate and House committees, and that as the House sponsor of SB14 she had not heard one word about any police concerns.

But Mike Noel, R-Kanab, said while one of his parents smoked — "almost choking me at times" — he believes a car is an extension of personal property rights and that such rights shouldn't be violated, even if a child's health is at risk.

"They are stuck in their conservative ideology of property rights," said McCoy. "They wouldn't stand for it for a minute if I lite up a cigarette and gave it to a five-year-old to smoke, or stuck it under his nose; they wouldn't stand for it if I gave a five-year-old a beer and made him drink it — all in a car.

"They are determined not to give me a floor vote" in the House because in an election year for all House members they don't want to take a vote against a kid's health or safety in a car, McCoy said.

McCoy said the statewide police association supports his bill, and that the Republicans' really don't want to hear from law enforcement agencies. "I can tell you right now that the Utah Public Safety Department has no opinion on my bill."

Wimmer said he doubts that police can adequately enforce a vehicle smoking ban measure.

SB14 makes it a secondary offense to smoke in a car with a child. Police can't pull you over if they see the offense, but if they stop you for some other moving infraction, they can cite you for smoking with a child present. It is a $45 fine, but the fine can be waived if the adult attends a smoking cessation class.

Noel claimed that for some smokers it is tougher to quit smoking than it is to quit heroin use. But even so, he said, McCoy's bill is an infringement of property rights.

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