skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Preemption Laws Block KY Communities from Tobacco Control Measures

play audio
Play

Monday, November 23, 2020   

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Since 1996, Kentucky has barred cities and counties from enacting tobacco control measures to govern the marketing and sale of tobacco products.

Advocates say such preemptive legislation is outdated and should be repealed. Known as preemption laws, they are currently on the books in twelve states, largely due to lobbying efforts by Big Tobacco.

Ben Chandler, CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said county and city governments have ideas for reducing vape product use and exposure to secondhand smoke, yet can't take action.

"If for instance, schools in a community didn't want to vape shops right next to a school, they, today under the present law, cannot regulate that," Chandler explained.

Sen. Julie Adams, R-Louisville, and Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, said they plan to file a local tobacco control bill early next year that would repeal the ban.

Smoking kills nearly 9,000 Kentuckians each year and racks up $1.9 billion dollars in state healthcare costs. Kentucky continues to lead the nation in cancer rates.

Chandler said grassroots efforts across the country have sparked innovative measures to discourage tobacco use among young people, shift local social norms around smoking and vaping, and improve the health of residents. He believes municipalities in the Commonwealth should be given the same independence.

"You know, you hear all the time from politicians that they believe most things ought to be controlled at the local level," Chandler observed. "And this is a good example of a thing that should be controlled at the local level because communities know what's best for their people."

Legislators in Frankfort have passed several bills in recent years aimed at curbing tobacco use, including increasing excise taxes on cigarettes and vaping products, establishing a statewide tobacco-free school campus law, and raising the minimum legal sales age for all tobacco products to 21.

Shannon Smith, Kentucky government relations director for the American Heart Association, said while overall smoking rates in the state are on the decline, certain populations, such as pregnant women continue to be at risk.

"And in Kentucky we have a disproportionate number of pregnant women that smoke," Smith remarked. "So if we could provide tools for communities to really look at how to better address the needs of that community to control tobacco use, we could improve the health outcomes of not only just the mothers but of the babies and families as well."

She added exposure to secondhand smoke is a top public health threat, noting children exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to experience severe asthma and respiratory infections, and babies are more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome.

Studies also have found children living in households where adults smoke end up in hospital emergency rooms more than kids living in smoke-free homes.

Disclosure: Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Health Issues, and Smoking Prevention. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021