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Jump to full article: Fairmont (WV) Times-West Virginian, 2009-03-15
Intro: House Majority Whip Mike Caputo and Delegates Tim Manchin and Linda Longstreth, all D-Marion, have sponsored a bill that would require all smoking bans not yet in effect and all future bans to be approved by the state’s county commissions — not the county boards of health . . .
Like the delegates who sponsored the bill, the Times West Virginian editorial board has never spoken out against the end result — a ban on smoking — but about about the process by which the ban was passed.
“Right now, it’s badly handled, and I just think that voters have a hard time accepting that a body that is not accountable to the public, to the electorate, can impose these regulations on the county,” Manchin said.
If HB 2932 passes, there would also be concrete notice requirements for public comment and public hearings, and if the county commission fails to act on a ban within a certain number of days, the regulation would become void.
If the bill passes, Marion County residents might actually get a say about the smoking ban — something they’ve been denied for the past year. With the county commission responsible for the ultimate decision, in the hands of the government body it should be open to public discourse instead of passed in the back room of a local restaurant.
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