UCSF Tobacco Control Policy Making: United States Title Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back: Tobacco Policy Making in Nebraska Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/70r843c4 Authors Wessel, Andrew Ibrahim, Jennifer K., Ph.D. Glantz, Stanton A., Ph.D. Publication Date 2004-04-01 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back: Tobacco Policy Making in Nebraska Andrew Wessel Jennifer Ibrahim, Ph.D. Stanton A. Glantz, Ph.D. Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education School of Medicine University of California, San Francisco San Francisco, CA 94143-1390 April 2004 Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back: Tobacco Policy Making in Nebraska Andrew J. Wessel Jennifer K. Ibrahim, Ph.D. Stanton A. Glantz, Ph.D. Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education School of Medicine University of California, San Francisco San Francisco, CA 94143-1390 April 2004 Supported in part by CA-61021. Copyright 2004 by A. J. Wessel, J. K. Ibrahim and S. A. Glantz. Permission is granted to reproduce this report for nonprofit purposes designed to promote the public health, so long as this report is credited. This report is available on the World Wide Web at http://repositories.cdlib.org/ctcre/tcpmus/NE2004. This report is one of a series of reports that analyze tobacco industry campaign contributions, lobbying, and other political activity in Nebraska and other states. The other reports are available on the World Wide Web at http://repositories.cdlib.org/ctcre/. 1 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • In 2002, 22.7% of Nebraskans over the age of 18 were current smokers, accounting for approximately 389,000 smokers. • Since 1995, the prevalence of adult tobacco use in Nebraska has remained about 1 percentage point below the national average, but per capita tobacco consumption in Nebraska has been falling more slowly than the Unites States as whole. • The tobacco industry has directly been a major political force in Nebraska through lobbying and campaign contributions. The tobacco industry spent over $1,027,000 on lobbying from 1997-2002. The tobacco industry made direct campaign contributions to the members of the 2003-2004 Nebraska Legislature totaling almost $93,000 over the course of their legislative careers. • Only 20 of the 49 members of the 2003-2004 Legislature have never accepted money from the tobacco industry. • The tobacco industry has also worked to increase its political influence in Nebraska by recruiting, often through financial contributions, third-party allies such as the Nebraska Restaurant Association, the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, the Nebraska Retail Grocers Association, the Nebraska Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, the Nebraska Retail Federation, the Nebraska Association of Tobacco and Candy Distributors and the Nebraska Licensed Beverage Association. • Despite opposition from the tobacco industry and its allies and the lack of a well- established grassroots tobacco control community, Nebraska was an early leader in passing statewide clean indoor air laws. Due largely to the efforts of state Senator Shirley Marsh, the Nebraska Legislature passed its first clean indoor air law in 1974, only one year after Arizona passed the first law in the nation that required smoking restrictions in some public places. • In 1979, the Nebraska Legislature passed the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act, which was sponsored by state Senator Larry Stoney. The Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act was stronger than similar legislation that was proposed in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts at the same time. The tobacco industry and its allies responded by mobilizing against the implementing rules and regulations for the Act and succeeded in weakened these regulations. • The Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act was not strengthened for 20 years until 1999 when the Legislature passed a bill that required that almost all state buildings and vehicles become smokefree. • From 2000 -2003, the Legislature also strengthened the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act by requiring that commercial daycare facilities be smokefree and extending its enforcement provisions to include business owners. 3 • From 1999-2004, the Nebraska Legislature has rejected three different attempts by state Senator Nancy Thompson to make restaurants throughout Nebraska smokefree. • Using tobacco settlement money, in 2000, the Nebraska Legislature approved $7 million per year for three years to increase funding for a preexisting state tobacco control program, Tobacco Free Nebraska. • Due to pressure from tobacco control advocates, the Nebraska Legislature approved a $0.30 cigarette excise tax increase in 2002, but the Legislature was only willing to pass this increase during a budget crisis and no earmark was provided for tobacco control. • Citing budget concerns in 2003, the Legislature cut funding for Tobacco Free Nebraska from $7 million per year to $405,000, despite several different options for continuing funding for tobacco control. • In 2003, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department led the push to pass Nebraska first comprehensive smokefree workplaces ordinances, but due to pressure from the tobacco industry and its allies, the Lincoln City Council passed a weakened and confusing ordinance that exempted bars and allowed separately ventilated “smoking rooms.” • Tobacco control advocates have made progress in Nebraska, but they have not yet mobilized the political resources necessary to avoid suffering significant defeats at the hands of the tobacco industry. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .....................................................3 INTRODUCTION .............................................................9 POLITICS IN NEBRASKA ....................................................11 A Unicameral Legislature ................................................11 Nebraska’s Legislative Process............................................12 Term Limits...........................................................13 TOBACCO INDUSTRY POLITICAL EXPENDITURES IN NEBRASKA ...............15 Data on Political Expenditures in Nebraska ..................................16 Tobacco Policy Scores ...................................................17 Legislative Officeholder and Candidates.....................................18 Elected Officials Receiving the Highest Amounts of Tobacco Industry Contributions ...............................................................18 Elected Officials Who Did Not Accept Tobacco Industry Contributions ............20 Relationship Between Campaign Contributions and Legislative Behavior...........20 The Nebraska Legislature Versus the United States Congress ....................22 Legislative Leaders .....................................................22 Legislative Committees..................................................23 Committee on Committees ...............................................23 Committee on Enrollment and Review......................................24 Committee on References ................................................26 Committee on Rules.....................................................26 Committee on Appropriations.............................................26 Committee on Revenue ..................................................26 Committee on Health and Human Services...................................27 Committee on Education.................................................27 Constitutional Officers ...................................................27 Lobbying Expenditures ..................................................29 CLEAN INDOOR AIR ........................................................29 The First Clean Indoor Air Legislation - LB 600 (1974) .......................29 First Attempt to Enact the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act - LB 648 (1978) .........31 Passage of the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act - LB 344 (1979) ..................34 Fighting Effective Implementing...........................................39 Twenty Years of No Change to the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act ...............43 Smokefree State Property ................................................43 A Smokefree Restaurant Bill - LB 750 (1999 -2000) ...........................46 Smokefree Daycare Facilities .............................................48 Second Attempt at Smokefree Restaurants - LB 227 (2001) ......................48 Tobacco Free Hall County’s Media Campaign ................................53 Tri-Cities Implement Smokefree Parks ......................................54 Improving the Implementing Regulations for the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act ....55 Improving Enforcement of the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act - LB 45 (2003) ......56 Third Attempt at Smokefree Restaurants - LB 546 (2003; carried over to 2004) ......58 5 Lincoln’s 2003 Attempt to Pass a Comprehensive Smokefree Workplace Ordinance . 59 ADVERTISING AND SAMPLING ..............................................69 Nebraska Attempts Warning Labels - LB 368 (1963) ...........................69 Free Samples of Spit Tobacco Prohibited - LB 48 (1989) .......................70 Efforts to Prohibit Tobacco Advertising at the Local Level ......................70 YOUTH ACCESS RESTRICTIONS .............................................71 Cigarette Vending Machine Restrictions - LB 130 (1991) .......................71 Omaha's Controversial Youth Access Law - Ordinance #32972 (1993) .............72 Vending Companies’ Lawsuit.............................................74 The Baker’s Supermarkets Lawsuit