No reason to carve exceptions in state smoking ban

When Washington voters were asked to approve one of the nation’s strictest smoking bans in 2005, protecting workers’ health was one of the most prominent arguments initiative supporters used.

Voters agreed that the people who worked in restaurants, taverns, bowling alleys, nontribal casinos and clubs shouldn’t have to breathe smoke for hours on end and risk a host of illnesses associated with secondhand smoke – which kills thousands of Americans every year. And so Washingtonians voted yes, and for five years workers’ health has been protected.

Now some legislators – including state Reps. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw; Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma; and Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup – want to take that protection away for some workers.