HOUSE BILL REPORT

ESHB 1941

BYSenate Committee on Environmental Affairs (originally sponsored by Representatives Sprenkle, Prentice, Leonard, Rust, Morris, Wolfe and Ferguson)

Prohibiting use of tobacco products in health care facilities.

House Committe on Environmental Affairs

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (12)

      Signed by Representatives Rust, Chair; Valle, Vice Chair; D. Sommers, Ranking Republican Member; Brekke, G. Fisher, Fraser, Phillips, Pruitt, Schoon, Sprenkle, Van Luven and Walker.

House Staff:Bonnie Austin (786-7107)

AS PASSED HOUSE JANUARY 22, 1990

BACKGROUND:

In 1985 the legislature enacted the Washington Clean Indoor Air Act (act) which prohibits smoking in public places, including health care facilities and nursing homes, except in designated areas.  Under the act, smoking areas may not be designated in hallways of health care facilities (excluding nursing homes) unless the smoking areas are physically separated from nonsmoking areas.  Violations are subject to a civil penalty of up to $100. Local law enforcement agencies enforce the prohibition against smoking in nondesignated areas.

Owners of health care facilities are required to post signs designating smoking and nonsmoking areas.  Local fire departments are responsible for enforcing the act as it relates to the duties of owners of health care facilities.  Violations are subject to a civil penalty of up to $200.

SUMMARY:

No person may smoke or chew tobacco in a health care facility or office, laboratory, clinic, hospital, childrens' day care facility, or nursing home licensed by the state.  Some of the health care facilities included in the prohibition are places of business for:  acupuncturists, chiropractors, dentists, maternity homes, midwives, optometrists, osteopaths, occupational therapists, pharmacists, emergency medical technicians, physical therapists, practical and registered nurses, psychologists, and massage operators.

Residents of nursing homes and patients in hospitals are excluded from the prohibition to the extent that nursing home or hospital administrators and physicians allow smoking in the resident's or patient's room or in a designated smoking area.  Employees of covered facilities are also excluded from the prohibition if their employers allow smoking in a separate, enclosed smoking room.

Violations are subject to the enforcement provisions of the act.  Local health departments will enforce the act regarding the duties of owners of facilities listed in the bill.

Violations of the act are punishable by warning tickets for the first six months after the effective date of this act. Violations after that date are subject to a $100 civil penalty.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Representative Art Sprenkle; Beverly Jacobson, Washington State Hospital Association; Bob Fox and Eldon Ball, Fresh Air for Nonsmokers; Mike Ryherd, Tobacco Addiction Coordinating Council.

House Committee - Testified Against:      No one.

House Committee - Testimony For:    The Surgeon General has concluded that sidestream smoke is a cause of lung cancer in healthy nonsmokers.  People in health care facilities, day care centers, and nursing homes are more vulnerable to the effects of sidestream smoke than are healthy nonsmokers.  Studies have demonstrated that children exposed to sidestream smoke have respiratory and other illness more often than unexposed children.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None.