In-car smoking ban may have hit a dead end

A bill to ban smoking in cars appears to have hit a dead end.

HB14, which had already won Senate approval, failed in the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee, where it had been sent from the House floor before it could be voted on after Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, and a former police officer, said not enough input had been received by law enforcement.

Law enforcement representatives had testified at both the House and Senate Health and Human Services Committees — the bill passed each of those committees — that the bill was not problematic and that they were taking no position on it.

At Monday's meeting, no position was again the position, except for Weber County Sheriff Brad Slater who said he believed determining the age of a child during a traffic stop is problematic because it would turn a minor second-offense situation into the officer prying into the personal matters of the driver.

"It is challenging sometimes to inquire further about the children in the vehicle," Slater said. "A lot of people in our county question that activity."

He said traffic stops are opportunities for driver education and to promote a commitment to voluntarily obey driving laws.

"We leave on the friendliest terms possible, and most citizens we stop understand that," he said. "This could mean they leave the stop with an 'us against them' attitude."

Wimmer said he fully appreciated the public health problem the bill addresses but that he "just had to come down on the particular side of just being too doggone much government intrusion into the lives of our citizens."

A smoking ban is an easy step by the committee, he said, noting that it's health risks are well-known, none of the members smoke, and one has endured serious and chronic health problems because he was raised with a parent who smoked.

"But what happens when we decide to ban something that you want to do; what happens when we're controlling every aspect of your parenting job?" Wimmer said.

Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, who is the committee member with the health problems Wimmer referred to, said he would invite anyone against the bill he is sponsoring to spend a day in his life. He has had multiple open-heart surgeries and health problems related to exposure to cigarette smoke.

"People say I'm just trying to get even or calling me punitive by supporting this," Ray said. "Call it whatever you want, but children are suffering health problems triggered by being around cigarette smoke."