Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Up in smoke!

Allegheny Institute Blog This is no way to run a government. Passing ordinances that violate state law in hopes they can win in court does no credit to the Council.
Amen!
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Anonymous said...

Full posting, for archive reasons, as it is so good.


Up in Smoke
A three judge panel of Commonwealth Court overturned Allegheny County’s smoking ban. The panel said the state’s 1988 Clean Indoor Act preempted the County’s ordinance, which Council was warned about by a County Solicitor and the president of the state restaurant association. However these warnings went unheeded by Council which was determined to pass a smoking ban. They did so by such as wide margin—14-1—that the County Executive could not veto the measure and have it hold.

Instead of being challenged by the County Executive, the ordinance was contested based on its legality with state law—again, a challenge they were told they would lose. So why did they press forward? Are the members of County Council so arrogant that they thought they could supersede the state statute? Or, knowing that it would be overturned, did they use the opportunity to grandstand and gain publicity?

Either way they had to be embarrassed by the panel’s decision. The Clean Indoor Air Act clearly exempted only Philadelphia, allowing them to enact their own smoking ban. If County Council was so bent on passing a smoking ban, they should have started with lobbying the legislature to amend the Act to exempt Allegheny County. Instead they have wasted taxpayer money on a legal fight they were bound to lose. They also imposed costs on businesses across the county as they spent time and money implementing and enforcing the ban.

This is an interesting case. If the two restaurants had not fought, would the statute have gone into effect only to be overturned by a later lawsuit? To have the ordinance thrown out six months into a smoking ban would have played havoc with restaurants and diners.

This is no way to run a government. Passing ordinances that violate state law in hopes they can win in court does no credit to the Council.

May 23, 2007 6:24 PM

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