State Senator Considers Amending Cigarette Tax Bill; Nebraskans Sound Off About Increasing Cigarette Tax Nebraska Sen. Mike Gloor said he wants to amend LB436, his proposal to
raise the cigarette tax in Nebraska, by 64 cents per pack rather by $1.35 per pack. That's what he told NET Radio this week. A raise in the cigarette tax from 64 cents per pack to $1.28 cents per pack would still be enough to discourage kids from smoking and help some adults to quit, according to Gloor. The revision should address concerns that a cigarette tax increase would drive Nebraskans to other states with a lower cigarette tax rate, Gloor told NET Radio, and strengthen the chances of the bill being voted out of the Revenue Committee, where it sits now.
Nebraskans sounded off on the measure.
"Kudos to Sen. Mike Gloor," for proposing raise funds with
cigarette taxes, and shame on Gov. Dave Heineman for saying he won't sign the measure, while proposing a 5 percent cut to Medicaid provider rates over the next two years. That's the message shared by Lincoln Journal Star letter writer David L. Foster of Brainard.
The letter came following comments Governor Dave Heineman made in a March 19 interview with the Associated Press, as reported in the Yankton Press & Dakotan and elsewhere. “The proposed increase ”is all about additional spending. It would be one thing if they were going to take the money and reduce taxes somewhere else. This bill is going to increase the
cigarette tax to spend money. To me, it just doesn’t make sense.“
Kyle Michaelis of the New Nebraska Network blogged that while he's concerned that the proposal to raise the
cigarette tax and the tobacco tax in LB436 would mean, "exploiting the addiction of an economically disadvantaged population to balance our state's budget," he's "absolutely appalled by Gov. Dave Heineman's cheap dismissal of this or any tax increase while the state legislature works to balance close to a billion dollar deficit in our state's budget."
The state of Nebraska has a genuine interest in the education and health of its citizens, according to Michaelis, and Nebraska state senators owe this and other potential tax hikes full consideration and an open debate.
Nebraska Teens Promote Tobacco Free Kids, Efforts to Help People Quit Smoking and Quit Tobacco It's cheaper for teens to buy a cigarette than to buy a bottle of water.
That's the message teens brought to Lincoln Wednesday at the No Limits Nebraska rally. About 100 Nebraska teens traveled to the state capitol Wednesday, while others and prepared radio ads in recognition of Kick Butts Day.
"90% of adult daily smokers start while in their teens," Amanda Mortensen, Project Coordinator of No Limits, told 10/11 News. "So we really want to talk with the youth that raise awareness about this issue and how it's affecting teens, because if we can decrease the number of teens that are starting to use tobacco, then we're going to ultimately decrease the number of people who are
dying from tobacco."
The No Limits Rally at the capitol was one of several events throughout the state that recognized
Kick Butts Day. Kick Butts Day is an annual day sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids to help promote tobacco free kids and tobacco prevention.
Students from Doniphan-Trumbull and Heartland Lutheran High Schools, where they handed out stickers, pamphlets, bracelets, and temporary tattoos at Hy-Vee in Grand Island Wednesday morning to help
Nebraskans kick their tobacco habit to the curb. And students in Platte and Colfax counties produced radio ads highlighting the dangers of
secondhand smoke.
Danny McGoldrick of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in his comments about Kick Butts Day events, told the Nebraska Radio Network that one sure way to discourage smoking is to make cigarettes more expensive.
“
Nebraska’s tobacco tax is about half of the national average and we estimate that increasing Nebraska’s tobacco tax by $1.35, which is what’s being considered, would not only prevent almost 20,000 Nebraska kids from becoming smokers and encourage about 10,000 Nebraska smokers to quit, but it would also raise important new revenue for the state.”
Also in the news this week, No Limits,
Nebraska’s youth-led tobacco prevention movement, is accepting applications for its 2011-12 youth board.
Hookah Bar Pledges to Seek Cigar Bar Status to Offer Smoking and Beverages An Omaha business that permits smoking hookah indoors sought a permit to sell alcohol from the Omaha City Council Tuesday.
The council denied the application by the Oasis Hookah Bar, saying that for it to sell alcohol and permit smoking, it must seek status as a cigar bar.
A
hookah is a water pipe used to smoke tobacco through cooled water. The tobacco is heated in the bowl at the top of the hookah and the smoke is filtered through the water in the base of the hookah.
The Nebraska Legislature in 2008 passed a
smoke-free worksites law that prohibited smoking in indoor public places. In 2009, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill brought forward by Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha that created a new class of business as cigar bars. That exemption permits those businesses to permit smoking of cigars and other non-cigarette products.
“If they want (to sell) alcohol, they’ll have to become a cigar bar,” the Omaha World Herald quoted Deputy City Attorney Tom Mumgaard as saying.
Sen. Lautenbaugh (@Lautenbaugh) tweeted: "Headline of the year so far- OWH Midlands- "No Alcohol Without Cigars, City Says"- sounds extreme even to me! (but, thanks, city)"
Jesse Hill, a co-owner of Oasis, said he would sell cigars to get a liquor license, according to the Omaha World Herald. “Our focus is not going to be on cigars. We didn’t open to be a cigar bar. We opened to be a
hookah bar.”
Jamal Husein, owner of the former hookah bar Sultana’s Kahve in Lincoln, continues to sell hookah pipes and smoking materials for use elsewhere.
“I don’t know if selling alcohol is a good idea,” he told the Omaha World Herald. “If somebody who has consumed too much alcohol monkeys with the coals, they could burn themselves.”
Hastings Public Schools On Path Toward Tobacco Free School Campuses Next fall when Hastings students return to school, they will return to campuses that are tobacco-free.
That's what will happen if the Hastings Board of Education gives second-round approval in April to a measure addressed last week by the board. Monday the board gave first-round approval to a measure that will require that all Hastings Public Schools property and facilities be tobacco-free beginning August 1, as reported by the Hastings Tribune.
Hastings Public School buildings and school vehicles have been smoke-free since 1989. Since that time, it has also been against policy for Hastings Public Schools employees and students to use tobacco while participating in class activity or in activities in which they represented Hastings Public Schools.
As proposed, the new policy would not extend to property that is leased or used by Hastings Public Schools that it does not own.
The issue of
tobacco-free school campuses has received attention this year as a result of a bill proposed by State Sen. Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha. The bill, LB313, would require school campuses throughout Nebraska to be tobacco-free.
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