Santa Monica: Mayor Clears the Air Over Confusing Smoking Laws

In an article in Westside (“Uniting a Quarrelsome Council Tops New Mayor’s Agenda,” Jan. 1) discussing this year’s agenda for the city of Santa Monica, my position (and the city’s position) has been misstated on public indoor smoking.

This is not surprising since the issue involves two old ordinances (Los Angeles and Santa Monica) and two new ones (state and local). All four take a tough approach to dealing with the harm to the public and to employees from secondhand smoke. The nuances of differences between them leads to confusion and more heat than light.

The new state ordinance --the Friedman bill, AB 13 --went into effect on Jan. 1 and essentially bans smoking in most indoor workplaces throughout California. This mirrors the old Santa Monica law, which I was proud to sponsor. The debate now is over the few exceptions-- mainly the phasing out of smoking in free-standing bars and the bar areas of restaurants. The state law allows two to four years, depending on when and if the state or federal EPA adopts clean indoor air standards.

In November, the City Council passed an ordinance that would cut out all exemptions and phase out the bars in one year. I sympathized with the goals, but I finally decided to allow the state bill to take effect --to have a level playing field from city to city-- and see how it worked before going beyond it. The new City Council voted to reconsider the local ordinance, and I expect us to decide to live with the state approach.

The Friedman bill is the nation’s toughest. The vast majority of restaurants are now smoke-free and soon the bar areas will be, too.

PAUL ROSENSTEIN

Mayor, Santa Monica