Smoking Bill Clears Another Hurdle

None by Eric Ray

(KCPW News) Making it illegal to smoke in a car with a child present would be an intrusion of government on personal freedoms, according to some Utah Senators.

"I don't think we should expose our kids to loud music in cars, and certainly not to some of the lyrics they are exposed to. I'm very opposed to those kinds of things happening but I don't think we should write legislation against it," says Republican Margaret Dayton of Utah County. "I would hope that parents would use wisdom, but I don't think we should be a government state and control everything about them. Not as a support of smoking, but as a support of private property rights, I will oppose this bill."

Dayton joined eight of her colleagues in voting against Senate Bill 14 today, which would make it a secondary traffic offense to smoke in a car if a child under five years old is also in the vehicle. Still, twenty lawmakers voted for the bill during its second reading in the Senate, including Democrat Karen Mayne of West Valley.

"I'd like to remind the body that children are not our property, they are our gift," says Mayne. "And as a gift you take care of something that can't take care of itself."

Before it can be passed to the House, the bill faces one more Senate reading. A recent amendment to the bill provides that a violation can't be used as evidence of child abuse or neglect.

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