Smoke-Free Fitchburg

Proposed Ordinance Facts

Where would the proposed ordinance prohibit smoking?

• Indoor public places
• Near entrances of City buildings
• City park areas designated by the Park Commission
• Educational facilities
• Places of employment

Are there any exceptions?

• Theatre stages, as part of a performance, when noticed in the program

Why introduce an ordinance like this?

• Everyone has the right to breath clean air.
• Secondhand smoke is a Class A Carcinogen, that is, it causes cancer.
• Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States, killing 53,000 people every year.
• It is the government's responsibility to protect workers from workplace hazards.
• There is no right to smoke.
• There is no right to pursue business in a way that makes people sick.
• As taxpayers and consumers of insurance, we all carry the burden of sickness and mortality caused by smoking and secondhand smoke.
• Chewing tobacco is a personal health risk, but is not a public health risk, and is not regulated under the ordinance, except in schools.
• The federal and Wisconsin state governments have not adequately protected people from secondhand smoke. Local action can protect people in Fitchburg, and sufficient local regulation may cause the state or Federal government to finally take action to protect us from secondhand smoke.
• Consistency among the smoke-free ordinances of neighboring municipalities makes it easier for people and organizations to comply.

To provide input or ask questions about the ordinance, contact Steve Arnold, Fitchburg Alder, at (608) 278-7700 or Steve.Arnold@Fitchburg.WI.US.

Back to Steve Arnold's Smoke-free Fitchburg page

This page was last updated 21 November 2006, and has been visited 839 times.