This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Clean Air Advocates Applaud 10 Years of Cleaner Indoor Air, Honor Abinanti for passing Westchester's Law

July 19, 2013

Community clean-air advocates and elected officials joined together in White Plains to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the New York State Clean Indoor Air Act (CIAA) and the Westchester Smoke-Free Workplace Law. At the event they honored Assemblyman Tom Abinanti for drafting, sponsoring and passing the Westchester law when he was a county legislator. "We understood 10 years ago what almost everyone understands today – second hand smoke kills,” said Assemblyman Abinanti. “There is no safe level of exposure to second hand smoke.”

The Westchester County Legislature passed its law on March 3, 2003 and was immediately followed by Nassau, Suffolk and New York City. The local efforts spurred the state legislature to pass the state law only weeks later.  All of these laws banned smoking in restaurants, bars, and the workplace and have continued to protect workers and patrons from second-hand smoke and helped to reduce smoking rates.

Find out what's happening in Scarsdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At the event, Assemblyman Abinanti pledged to sponsor legislation to toughen the state law to match the stronger Westchester law, especially to ban smoking in hotel rooms statewide and protect workers in outdoor but confined areas. "The success of the efforts to pass clean air legislation provide three lessons,” said Abinanti.  “Good government is good politics. Good policies can be achieved by regional cooperation, no matter how strong the opposition. The State will follow the lead of local governments.”



Find out what's happening in Scarsdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?