Beach smoking issue moves up to Sacramento
Alicia Robinson
Smokers may have to bring their tape measures when they visit state
beaches if legislators approve a bill that requires them to be within
20 feet of a trash can when puffing or face a $100 fine.
District Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) said he will
introduce the bill in the Senate natural resources committee today.
The assemblyman is not trying to stamp out smoking, he said, just the
litter it causes.
“We spend an extraordinary amount of resources to clean up our
beaches,” Yee said. “I am very respectful of those individuals who
want to smoke.... However, you’ve got to smoke responsibly.”
Several Southern California cities including San Clemente, Los
Angeles, Santa Monica and Malibu have passed city beach smoking bans
in recent months, and several others including Newport Beach and
Huntington Beach are considering bans.
Yee’s bill was initially an outright prohibition of smoking on
state-owned beaches. But he modified the bill Monday after he met
resistance from members of the Senate natural resources committee,
where the bill remained after some members abstained from voting on
it last week.
“All of a sudden, we were faced with Libertarian-type arguments
[such as] why should the state impose its will on people who are
doing something that is not illegal,” Yee said.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state parks department haven’t
taken a position on the bill. Parks officials are analyzing it to see
how it might affect their operations and what it might cost, said Roy
Stearns, state parks deputy director.
The state owns 64 beaches that comprise about one-fourth of the
state’s coastline, Stearns said. And park users do periodically
complain about it.
Newport Beach officials could consider banning or containing
smoking on the city’s beaches as soon as next week, when the Parks,
Beaches and Recreation Commission takes up the issue.
Mayor Tod Ridgeway said he expects the city to end up with a
smoking ban, though up until now, he’s advised proceeding with
caution because a ban would be difficult to enforce.
“Our police chief is not supportive of this ban, but I think
there’s a point in time where perhaps if we’re the last beach in the
state of California [that allows smoking], we don’t want to encourage
people to come here just because we’re the last beach,” Ridgeway
said.
Cigarette butts are considered litter, and littering already is
punishable by $100 fines -- if perpetrators are caught.
Park officials have done well with enforcing the limited ban on
alcoholic beverages, which are prohibited in some areas of state
parks and beaches, Stearns said, but bottles and cans are easier to
spot than cigarettes.
State beaches have trash receptacles about every 50 yards along
the sand and more in parking lots and camping areas, but smokers
don’t always use them, Stearns said.
“I don’t think that most [people] in the public think that a
cigarette butt is trash,” he said.
* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.
She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at
alicia.robinson@latimes.com.
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