Bill that would ban smoking at Calif. state parks stalls; lawmakers vow to try again

Attempt stalls to ban smoking at Calif state parks

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An attempt by the California Legislature to impose what is believed to be the nation’s most far-reaching smoking ban in state parks stalled Thursday over objections it would inappropriately punish smokers.

The bill in the 80-member Assembly fell five votes short of the simple majority needed to approve the ban, in part because several lawmakers who were expected to vote for it were absent.

“We’ll bring it back and go again,” said Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica. “I think we’ll have the votes.”

Another vote could be held as early as Monday.

The legislation would ban smoking at state beaches and all other state parks as a way to get unsightly cigarette butts off the beach, eliminate second-hand smoke and reduce the threat of wildfires.

Under a legislative compromise, campsites and parking areas will be exempted from the ban.

Maine banned smoking at its state beaches last year, but groups that track such legislation say no state prohibits lighting up throughout its entire park system, as the California bill proposes.

“It is very clear that the garbage that is created as a result of smoking on beaches — butts and wrappers — are polluting our water,” Democratic state Sen. Jenny Oropeza of Long Beach, the bill’s author, said in an interview. “In terms of the state park system, we have a major fire hazard when cigarettes are smoked in parks.”

Her bill would affect some of the state’s most iconic geography, from the otherworldly desert landscape of Anza Borrego to famous Southern California surfing spots to Northern California redwood groves. The legislation previously passed the Senate.

At Pacifica State Beach near San Francisco, surfer Drew Cunningham, 24, stood next to his board getting ready to hit the waves. He said he fully supports a law that would ban smoking on any beaches.

“The butts tend to end up in the water or the beach, and animals can get ahold of them. It’s not good,” he said. “I have an 18-month old daughter, and I like to bring her to the beach. I don’t want people smoking there.”

The legislation is opposed by the tobacco industry, which disputes that second-hand smoke is harmful.

If the legislation eventually is signed into law, California would be the first state to ban smoking throughout its entire park system, according to Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, a Berkeley-based nonprofit that tracks such bans.

Similar smoking bans are being considered in Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York, according to the American Cancer Society.

Associated Press Writer Jason Dearen in San Francisco contributed to this report.