Tuesday, August 01 2006
ANCHORAGE, AK - The smoking ban being considered in Anchorage may go beyond bars and bingo parlors to outlaw lighting up at the baby sitter's house.
The proposal, up for consideration at the Aug. 15 Anchorage Assembly meeting, would ban smoking at "all premises offering child care by persons other than the child's parent."
The main thrust of the secondhand smoke law would be to outlaw smoking in all bars and bingo halls. The proposal would extend a current ban that applies to most other public spaces, including restaurants, enclosed public spaces and workplaces. The day-care item occupies one sentence on two lines and is overlooked by many. But the sentence is stirring a new debate in a controversial Assembly issue.
Some Assembly members think the baby-sitter ban goes too far.
Debbie Ossiander said she thinks the proposal "is a little bit of a reach" because it would prevent someone dropping a kid off at "Aunt Suzy's" house. Ossiander plans to try to change the provision so it applies to licensed child care facilities only.
Assemblyman Dick Traini, one of two initial sponsors of the second- hand smoke measure, said he interprets the day-care section the same way as Ossiander -- that it would apply even if there is just one child being cared for. And that's just how he wants it to be.
"We intended for it to apply to anyone who provides child care, because the children are just as precious whether it's a licensed day care or an unlicensed day care," he said.
Co-sponsor Dan Coffey agrees, at least in principle.
"Anybody who puts their kid with a baby sitter who smokes is out of their mind," he said.
But he thinks the provision is unenforceable.
For that reason, and because there are already some prohibitions against smoking in regulated child care facilities, Coffey said he will recommend deleting the provision.
Bev Wooley, city health and human services director, said enforcement would depend on people making complaints about a particular baby sitter.
"There's a lot of the code that works on complaints," she said. "We always try to go out and work with the person."
Children are often helpful at telling what goes on, Wooley said.
Coffey and Traini say they will produce a new version of the smoking-in-public-places law soon, which will take into account issues that have arisen in discussions and public testimony. The Assembly ended public hearings on the smoking ban last week. The next time it comes up -- in two weeks -- Assembly members will offer amendments and possibly vote on the issue.
As the proposal is written now, the only day-care site where smoking would be legal is the child's home.
Restrictions on the books ban smoking in day-care centers, even when children have left for the night. Another law makes it illegal to smoke in licensed day-care homes, but only when the children are present. If there is smoking during off-hours, the smoke must be gone before the kids show up.
The law for licensed day-care homes says the home has to be a "smoke-free environment," which means: "tobacco is not evident by sight or smell and smoking materials are not visible to children in care."
What's the difference between licensed and unlicensed day-care homes?
If there are five or more children being cared for in a home, the person responsible must get a municipal license. For up to four children, there is no such regulation, and no smoking ban at the moment.
Source: Anchorage Daily News, as reported by Rosemary Shinohara
Published: August 2, 2006
