LETTER: ‘Take it Outside’ is an important bill

To the editor:

Senator Peter Micciche has been a champion and lead bill sponsor for what he calls the “take it outside” act for five years now. The current bill is SB63. It would enact a comprehensive smoke-free law that covers all public places and workplaces equally across the state. Everyone I talk to about this issue is shocked that Alaska doesn’t already have this policy. Especially given everything we know today. There is no safe amount of secondhand smoke according to the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, and the Surgeon General.

This public policy has been thoroughly vetted over the past four years in the legislative process and has strong public, business, and legislative support. There is one legislator standing in the way of it, Rep Gabrielle LeDoux, R, of Anchorage. The bill currently has 21 House sponsors and has been sitting in her House Rules committee since January. Rep. LeDoux states that she doesn’t want to force this provision on communities or boroughs that don’t want it, however, no such communities or boroughs have come forward. She has discussed, but not proposed an opt-out provision that would result in a patchwork of workplace protections across the state resulting in confusion and continued exposure to secondhand smoke. Besides, I can’t opt-out of breathing.

A statewide public health law needs to be statewide, currently, about half the population of Alaska already lives under smoking bans, like the one in Anchorage. In fact, Kodiak Island Borough, City of Kodiak, City of Fairbanks, Fairbanks Northstar Borough, and Mat-Su Borough, which are currently unprotected, have written resolutions in support of the statewide law. I understand that Rep. LeDoux does not support SB63, however, ¾ of House and Senate members do, along with more than 1,000 businesses and organizations statewide and the vast majority of Alaskans. Everyone deserves a smoke-free workplace. #WheresBill63 #akleg #free63

— Kelly Larson,

Secondhand Smoke-Induced Asthma Sufferer