Last week, Missouri lawmakers sent the wrong signal to their co-workers, constituents and all Missourians by snuffing out a proposal to ban smoking in Capitol offices.
The Associated Press reported a House rules committee heard testimony from several high school students and a letter from Mayor Carrie Tergin asking them to ban smoking throughout the Capitol, including lawmakers' offices.
Smoking already is prohibited in Capitol hallways and legislative chambers.
The committee's Republican majority struck down the proposed amendment to the House rules on a 9-4 party-line vote.
The AP said Republican leaders dismissed concerns about secondhand smoke, saying the number of legislators smoking in offices was small in comparison to past years or decades.
A little more than a month ago, smoke-free advocates consisting of both adults and children gathered in the Capitol Rotunda to urge the Legislature's Rules Committee to prohibit smoking throughout the building.
We supported the cause then and will continue to do so.
Neighboring states such as Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas and Iowa have smoke-free capitols. Forty one states nationwide do not allow smoking anywhere in their capitol building.
Both Jefferson City and the state of Missouri have smoke-free policies for public buildings, but the offices of individual state lawmakers are exempt. Although senators and Democratic members of the House have elected to observe the smoke-free policy in their offices, House Republicans have not.
The vote seems to suggest that the health effects of smoking are serious enough to protect state employees and members of the public in other state buildings, but we don't need to be as concerned with smoking's effect on other Capitol workers, constituents or on the many school children who visit the statehouse each year.
And while we've never heard of instances of anyone flaunting their right to smoke in front of kids or constituents, retaining the right to smoke sends the wrong signal.
The Legislature has worked over the past couple years to clean up its image, after several high-profile incidents involving lawmakers. This vote by a few lawmakers on the rules committee took the entire General Assembly a step backward. It furthers the notion that politicians are above the law - able and willing to exempt themselves from a common-sense ban.
News Tribune