HANMI favors non-smoking bill

The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands has thrown its weight behind a bill that seeks to outlaw smoking in restaurants, bars, and workplaces in the Northern Marianas.

In an interview Friday following the Saipan Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting, HANMI chair Lynn A. Knight said the organization has voted to endorse House Bill 16-47 sponsored by Rep. Justo S. Quitugua.

“Everybody who responded to the survey said they are supporting the bill; nobody said they are against it. We didn’t have a 100-percent response rate, though, but 100 percent of the people that answered supported it. And a number of them said they are already doing it on their own,” Knight said in an interview with the Saipan Tribune.

She said she was quite surprised at how strongly the general managers felt about the issue. “I had comments form a number of them that they fully support the idea eliminating smoking in restaurants and bars and [hotel] lobbies.”

Knight, however, said that one sticking point the hotel general managers want clarified is the issue on the number of smoking rooms hotels are allowed to retain.

“The only thing that they weren’t sure about is that they would prefer not to have any quota on the number of smoking rooms and leave it up to the hotels to decide based on the needs of the guest. And I could see that as a very important question because if you’re only allowed to designate 20 percent of your rooms but you have a lot of requests for them, you don’t want to turn away business,” she said.

Knight added that HANMI would prefer to allow the market to dictate how many rooms hotels could designate as smoking rather than have the government just pick a number for them.

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce, which advanced its April meeting to accommodate First Hawaiian Bank economic consultant Dr. Leroy Laney, said it is still waiting on the vote from its members.

House Bill 16-47, sponsored by Rep. Justo S. Quitugua, proposes to make public places smoke-free. Exemptions include open-air bars, hotel rooms, and outdoor jobsites.

In his 14-page bill, Quitugua cites a long list of studies concerning ill health effects of secondhand smoke. He also says analyses have shown a link between a smoking ban and the profitability of restaurants and hotels.

“It is the duty of the Commonwealth Legislature to provide a healthy and safe environment for the people of the CNMI as well as for visitors to our islands. This includes establishing smoke-free public and work places for the benefit of all, and particularly for the elderly and children,” Quitugua states in his bill.

He adds that a smoking ban will protect the public health and welfare, and guarantee the right of nonsmokers to breathe smoke-free air, and recognize that “the need to breathe smoke-free air shall have priority over the desire to smoke.”