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The chairman of the House Health Committee is taking another crack at trying to cut the number of exceptions to the state's indoor smoking ban.
Pennsylvania banned smoking in most indoor public spaces in 2008.
Twenty-eight states totally ban indoor smoking. However, Pennsylvania's Clean Air Act includes "a long list of loopholes that allows places like casinos, hotels and some bars to continue to expose their employees to toxic smoke," Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, said in a memo to other lawmakers about House Bill 880.
"If we cannot count on private businesses to do the right thing even when it's the financially smart thing, then it's time for political leaders to step in and insist on the protection of the health of our constituents," Frankel said in the memo.
Frankel has scheduled a committee vote on HB 880 on Tuesday.
The Health Committee approved a similar bill in November 2023, but that legislation didn't come up for a vote by the full House.
The legislation would ban smoking at bars that currently allow it, in hotels, casinos and home-based day cares. The legislation would still allow indoor smoking at cigar bars, tobacco shops and private clubs.
Just under 15% of Pennsylvanians said they smoked tobacco in 2022, according to the American Lung Association. That's higher than the national average of 11.2%, but down from 21% a decade earlier.
A Department of Health report found that smoking rates were highest among those in the lower income levels. Twenty-eight percent of adults who earn less than $50,000 a year were smokers in 2021, according to the agency's data.
Efforts to ban smoking in casinos have been fought by the industry, but Frankel noted that the state's largest casino, the Parx Casino, went smoke-free after the COVID-19 pandemic and has found the change beneficial.
Under current law, casinos are allowed to permit smoking on up to 50% of their gaming floors. But during the pandemic, when mask mandates were in place, smoking was banned in all casinos.
Frankel pointed to comments made by a Parx executive at a gaming conference that barring smoking had saved the casino on employee health care costs, improved morale and helped attract new customers.