House Bill 121

Statement

House Bill 121 of the 2007 legislative session was a bill to ban smoking from bowling alleys. I voted against this bill as I saw it as a property rights issue. There is no reason that commercial enterprises in the private sector can not regulate the behavior of their patrons. And patrons can vote with their feet if they don't like the policies and practices of any particular private sector business enterprise.

Personally I hate cigarette smoke. No one in my immediate family smokes. My father ran the 10,000 meters in the 1956 Olympics and held the American record for the 5,000 meters. My brother competed in the NCAA Track and Field nationals twice in the 3,000 meter steeple chase. And I came within 6 seconds of the American record for a cycling 10 mile time trial. The last thing I want to have to put up with is cigarette smoke.

However, this is a property rights issue, and not an issue for the government to delve into.
In my opinion House Bill 121 deals has a "police state" mentality behind it. I fully supported Governor Otter's veto message which is found below: