Holy Crap! You mean people are tired of breathing in smoke when they go out to eat and drink
l3wis Like this is some big surprise;
Smoking Ban
South DaCola quote of the day
To those who oppose the ban because they think it is some kind of way for the government to control your lives, give me a break. Why don’t you try to quit? You soon will realize how much a single cigarette runs your life. Then we’ll talk about control.
Yeah! I only let big tobacco control my life not the government!
Who doesn’t the Tobacco and Beverage industry own?
This kind of reminds me of how the Bed & Booze tax Events Center funding source mysteriously disappeared – it is no secret the Hospitality and Beverage industry beat the shit out of the EC Task Force to drop the funding source. It kind of looks like they are doing a number in the SD court system to;
The testimony began after Circuit Judge Kathleen Trandahl ruled that the smoking ban passed by the Legislature is eligible to be referred to voters. The opposite ruling would have settled the case, but now the court system must determine whether opponents collected enough valid signatures to put it on next year’s ballot.
Okay, I know that the judge only ruled that IT CAN be referred to the voters, IF, the signatures are valid. But we know where this is going . . . I have followed politics long enough in this state to know who runs the show, and it isn’t the little man.
UPDATE: What did a freaking tell yah.
I found this part of the judge’s decision troubling;
Nelson, though, said the ruling on substantial compliance and Trandahl’s decision to allow signatures from people on the inactive voter list to be considered valid set troubling precedents and might lead to him arguing for an appeal.
“Apparently, you don’t need a notary seal, and inactive voters can sign a petition, and we’ve got a statute that says that’s not the case,” Nelson said.
Why don’t we just let monkey’s sign petitions from now on. Once again, South Dakota proves it’s motto, “Big Business first, people second.”
Smoking ban update
Dear Advocate,
I wanted to share a brief summary of where things stand regarding the smoke free law lawsuit.
The smoke free law lawsuit will be heard by the circuit court judge on November 12th. The hearing will cover a variety of issues raised by the opponents of the smoke free law concerning the validity of the signatures they turned in as well as the legal argument by the American Cancer Society and our partners with the South Dakota Tobacco Free Kids Network that the law is not referrable because of the constitutional clause that prohibits referring laws that are for the immediate preservation of public health.
The judge will hear legal arguments on the referability issue first and if she agrees with us, the trial will conclude and the law, in theory, would go into effect. We are expecting there to be an appeal from the circuit court regardless of the outcome and the implementation of the law will likely be delayed pending all legal steps.
If the judge does not agree with us about the referability issue, the trial will focus on the petition signatures to determine if, in fact, the opponents gathered enough valid signatures to place the law on the 2010 ballot. The issues that will be examined in this area have to do with proper notarization, lack of complete information, and other areas in which we contend the petitions are deficient. Depending on how many of these signatures are ultimately deemed valid, the judge will either rule that the law does not get referred or that the law is referred until the November 2010 election.
This is a big picture summary, as there are many technical issues to be determined during this process. The American Cancer Society and the South Dakota Tobacco Free Kids Network will be part of the process and will offer our legal arguments and insight as appropriate to help the judge make a determination on the issues outlined above.
If you have specific questions, please let me know.
___________________
Erik Gaikowski
Senior Field Government Relations
American Cancer Society
4904 South Technopolis
Sioux Falls, SD 57106
1.800.660.7703
605.323.3545
Help make South Dakota smoke free, visit our website http://www.smokefreesd.com