Casinos not included in smoking ban bill
By Noel Lyn Smith
Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK, July 14, 2011
A new bill that would allow smoking to continue in Navajo gaming facilities while prohibiting its use elsewhere is making its way to the Navajo Nation Council.
The Smoke-Free Navajo Nation Act of 2011 would allow smoking at casinos until the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise pays back the money it owes the tribe and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority for casino construction loans and new infrastructure to serve them.
Delaying the smoking ban at casinos would "protect the nation's investment in the NNGE and Navajo casinos," according to the bill.
Smoking would be permitted in private residences, in designated outdoor areas, in cultural or ceremonial activities, and for entertainment purposes such as a theatrical production that requires smoke as part of the staging.
As for casinos, smoking would be allowed only in areas with slot machines and table games where not designated as nonsmoking by the casino.
Smoking would also be allowed on golf courses.
The tribe's Office of Environmental Health Code Enforcement and the Division of Public Safety would enforce the ban and issue citations. Any fines paid by violators would be collected by the Division of Health to fund tobacco education and prevention programs.
The bill got a "do pass" recommendation from the Resources and Development Committee, the Law and Order Committee, the Health, Education and Human Services Committee, and the Naa Bik'iyáti' Committee.
The bill failed to get anywhere in the Budget and Finance Committee.
Per Navajo law, the bill was posted June 16 on the Council's Web site for a five-day public comment period. One comment was submitted, a resolution in support of the legislation from the gaming enterprise board of directors.
The resolution states that NNGE supports the bill because it would reduce smoking in public venues and workplaces and phase out smoking in Navajo gaming properties, at the discretion of the Council, while at the same time enabling the enterprise to repay its long-term debt.
Elmer Begay (Dilkon/Greasewood Springs/Indian Wells/Teesto/White Cone) is sponsoring the smoking bill and presented it July 7 to the Naa Bik'iyáti' Committee.
In testimony before the Council committees, gaming enterprise CEO Bob Winter spoke as if he were the author of the bill, saying, "Our intension through this legislation is in fact at some point in time address the issue of smoking inside the casinos whereby the enterprise will not object to a ban. But right now we are new and we are making an effort to build facilities that would employ Navajo people and a total smoking ban will in effect stop that."
A ban would make Navajo the only smoke-free casinos in Arizona, and he believes this would drive customers away.
Recent efforts to persuade other Arizona casinos to join a ban were rejected, said Winter and Council Delegate Joshua Lavar Butler (Tó Nanees Diz'). Butler said he met June 24 with the Arizona Indian Gaming Association discussed the issue.
"The overall response was 'no,'" said Butler, who was appointed by the Council in April to represent the Navajo Nation in AIGA.
Current efforts to reduce secondhand smoke exposure in Navajo gaming facilities aren't doing the job, according to Katherine Benally (Chilchinbeto/Dennehotso/Kayenta), who remains strongly opposed to a partial smoking ban.
She said she has played the slot machines at Fire Rock Navajo Casino.
"I sat in the nonsmoking side and the smoking side - there's no difference," Benally said. "They're both smoked filled."
She asked the committee not to support the smoking bill because it fails to protect the health of casino workers and because the Council has not heard from the Navajo Division of Health or IHS on the proposal.
"They value the money - that green thing - over the lives of our people," Benally said about the gaming enterprise.
Currently, almost all the customers at Navajo casinos are Navajo, as are the employees.
Then she proposed to Winter and the gaming enterprise staff to work in Fire Rock's gaming area.
"You subject yourself to that same conditions for a week then come back and tell me you love it," she said. "If you are not willing to do it you shouldn't be asking someone else to do it."
Benally is sponsoring a bill to prohibit smoking in all public places, with no exceptions, but it has not been before any of the standing committees. Its public comment period ended July 11, according to information on the Council's Web site.
Smoking is a personal choice, said Roscoe Smith (Crystal/Fort Defiance/Red Lake/Sawmill).
"I believe that it's just one of the basic human rights in which an individual chooses to apply themselves to," Smith said.
"The government always tries to get involved in so much of the freedoms that the people have and restrict that," he said. "That's what I see here."
For physician Patricia Nez Henderson, the issue is not personal choice but is the involuntary exposure to someone else's smoke.
Henderson grew up in Teesto, Ariz., and understands the need for economic development and employment on Navajo but said it should not be done at the expense of people's health.
"Being exposed to secondhand smoke is not k'é," she said.
Henderson cited a 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's report that said involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.
She also referenced a 2009 report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that assessed secondhand smoke exposure among casino dealers in Las Vegas. Among the findings were that these dealers developed respiratory problems, she said. The report recommended banning smoking at casinos.
This is not the first effort to ban smoking in public places on the reservation. The Navajo Nation Commercial Tobacco-Free Act of 2008 was passed by the Council but vetoed by then President Joe Shirley Jr. at the behest of the gaming enterprise.
"We're committed to the health of the people, we will not give up," Henderson said.
As of press time Wednesday, it was not clear if the Smoke-Free Navajo Nation Act of 2011 would be on the agenda of the Council's summer session, set to begin Monday, July 18.