A Bill Banning Smoking in Atlantic City Casinos is Dropped for Lack of Support
This Christmas season, a number of New Jersey senators may get a lot of heat from irate employees of all the casinos in Atlantic City who are furious that a measure banning indoor smoking will not be put to a vote this year.
On December 14, the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Senior Services was to vote on a measure that would close a legal loophole that permits smoking at casinos located in Atlantic City. There are still plenty of casinos that allow smoking in AC and throughout the country.
The measure was dropped by the committee chairman less than 24 hours before the public hearing, with the reason given as a lack of support.
The Casinos of Atlantic City Continue to Dominate Trenton
Legislators have yanked the rug out from under anti-smoking campaigners for the second time in three weeks.
Following almost ninety minutes of testimony, scores of casino employees traveled the 180 miles to Trenton for a hearing last week, only to learn that the measure lacked sufficient support from the committee’s nine members to be put to a vote.
The head of the committee, Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, allegedly told PoliticoNJ that a number of cosponsors of the measure had chosen to remove their names for reasons they did not know.
Other than that, Vitale said he has heard from a few members, especially those on the other side of the aisle, that they would want to take into consideration some of the adjustments that the industry is proposing. Vitale stated that these were the same ridiculous concepts that had been proposed for years.
