California could become the first state
in the nation to ban smoking at state parks and beaches after the state Senate today passed legislation it says protects the marine
environment and reduces fire danger. Introduced by Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach), Senate Bill 4 now moves to the Assembly, where no hearing has been scheduled. In its current form, the bill would
establish a $100 fine for smoking at parks or beaches.
Already in Orange County, Seal Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach and San Clemente ban smoking in
city parks, beaches and piers. Oropeza's home city of Long Beach does as well. Her bill is
nearly identical to one she introduced in 2006. Since then, the legislator says, the federal
Environmental Protection Agency has determined cigarette butts to be
the most frequently found marine debris item in the U.S., posing a persistent and serious threat to marine
life. Oropeza's office also pointed to the California Department of Forestry blaming smoking as the source for more than 100 forest
fires in the state annually over a five-year average and four of California's 25 worst wildfires from 1929-1999.
Oropeza isn't exactly a pal of the tobacco industry. Her bill that banned smoking in cars with anyone inside under age 18 went into effect on Jan. 1, 2008–exactly one year after her measure outlawing smoking in common-use areas such as
lobbies, lounges, elevators, restrooms, stairwells, waiting areas and covered parking lots kicked in.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.