Gov. Murphy To Sign Bill Banning Smoking
Gov. Murphy To Sign Bill Banning Smoking At New Jersey Public Beaches, Parks
Smokers will no longer be able to light up on a public beach at the Jersey Shore. Gov. Phil Murphy will sign legislation on Friday banning smoking at public beaches and parks.
Last month, state Assembly and Senate committees advanced bills to ban smoking at public beaches, except for designated smoking areas comprising 15 percent or less of the beach. Smokers would be allowed to light up in parking lots, too.
Fines for violators would start at $250 for a first offense and reach $1,000 for a third offense.
“Its time has come,” said Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, a southern New Jersey Democrat. “We know the ill-effects of smoking and secondhand smoke.”
The state Department of Environmental Protection is to “provide assistance” to local communities “within the limits of resources available to the department for this purpose.”
The bill goes into considerable detail about who would get the money from fines, depending on whether the charges were brought by state or local health departments.
Nationwide, more than 300 coastal communities have banned smoking on their beaches, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation. At the Jersey shore, some of the state’s most popular beaches already prohibit smoking including Ocean City, Belmar, Spring Lake, and Seaside Heights.
The bill has the support of many environmental groups.
“We shouldn’t be turning our beaches into ashtrays or clouds of air pollution,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Secondhand smoke can lead to health impacts, lung cancer, asthma and infections. Children are playing on the beach and they are breathing in secondhand smoke.”
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Author: https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/07/19/gov-murphy-to-sign-bill-banning-smoking-at-new-jersey-public-beaches-parks/
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