LICENSE TO KILL: NOT FOR ILLINOIS

February 28, 2012

American Heart Association statement on the defeat of House Bill 1310

The American Heart Association is pleased that House Bill 1310, which would have allowed towns in Illinois to sell smoking licenses to local businesses, was defeated today in the Illinois House of Representatives.

A smoking license is a license to kill, threatening Illinois workers who would be forced to breathe smoke-filled air within their workplaces. It would have been wrong for our state to sanction behavior that would harm people’s health while allowing municipalities to cash in by selling these licenses. We applaud those legislators who voted down the bill and, thus, kept those lethal licenses out of our state.

“Such legislation would endanger employees and other customers who prefer not to be exposed to second-hand smoke,” said Dr. Timothy A. Sanborn, head of the cardiology division at NorthShore University HealthSystem and a member of the American Heart Association’s Illinois Advocacy Committee. “Even low levels of smoke exposure have been shown to lead to heart attacks and strokes.”

At a time when our neighbors in Indiana are fighting for smoke-free legislation and facing exemptions for casinos and other establishments that would weaken their proposed law, it is good to see Illinois keeping our smoke-free bill strong and putting the health of its citizens above monetary gain.

A vast majority of Illinois residents do not want the smoke-free law weakened. Last year there were multiple attempts to weaken the Smoke Free Illinois Act through proposed legislation that would have given exemptions to casinos. That proposed legislation, like House Bill 1310, was ultimately defeated. A statewide poll of registered voters in April 2010 showed 84% support for Smoke Free Illinois, including casinos and private clubs.

Proposed casino exemptions and sales of smoking licenses are driven by financial interests. There is a better, much healthier way of increasing revenue without weakening our smoke-free law.

“If the goal is to raise state revenue, let’s raise the tobacco taxes instead,” said Sanborn. “Such efforts in other states have recently been shown to increase state revenue while actually decreasing the number of smokers. Let’s strive to continue to improve the health of all residents of the state of Illinois rather than grant ‘licenses to kill.’”

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