Drilling, Vaping Bans Headed To November Ballot In Florida

April 17, 2018

Florida voters will get a chance to decide this fall whether to ban nearshore oil and gas drilling and prevent people from vaping or using electronic cigarettes in many public places, under a proposed constitutional amendment approved Monday.

Without debate, the Florida Constitution Revision Commission on Monday voted 33-3 to back a single proposed amendment (Proposal 6004) that includes the drilling and vaping issues.

The 37-member commission approved a series of proposed amendments Monday, amid repeated questions about linking multiple issues in single proposals.

Commissioner Brecht Heuchan, chairman of the commission’s Style and Drafting Committee, said the drilling and vaping issues were linked because sponsors worked together with a moniker of “clean air, clean water.”

“If anything went together, it was those two,” Heuchan said.

The proposed ban on vaping and electronic cigarettes in workplaces was sponsored by Commissioner Lisa Carlton, a former state senator from Sarasota County. Commissioner Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, a former mayor of Sewall’s Point, sponsored the proposed drilling ban. She handed out seashells to fellow commissioners after the vote.

In a committee meeting last month, Thurlow-Lippisch called her proposal a needed “statement” to help the economy, wildlife and quality of life for Floridians.

“It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, or black or white or an alien from outer space, if you get to come here, you can walk the beaches and enjoy what they are,” Thurlow-Lippisch said.

Florida law currently prohibits the state from granting leases to drill for oil or natural gas in state coastal waters. But putting into the Constitution a ban on exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas in coastal waters would be more permanent.

The anti-drilling proposal comes amid debate about plans by President Donald Trump’s administration to allow oil and gas drilling in federal waters off various parts of the country.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke appeared in January in Tallahassee and said drilling would not occur off Florida’s coasts, but the administration’s stance has continued to draw questions. The federal issue involves waters beyond the nation’s outer continental shelf — a jurisdictional term describing submerged lands 10.36 statutory miles off Florida’s West Coast and three nautical miles off the East Coast.

Carlton’s vaping measure, meanwhile, would expand a 2002 voter-approved constitutional amendment that banned smoking tobacco in workplaces, including gathering spots such as restaurants. The proposal would expand that prohibition to apply to “vapor generating electronic devices.”

Carlton, in a committee meeting last month, recalled watching her gymnast daughter work out at a gym and sitting behind someone who was vaping.

“I think it’s time to clean up our restaurants, our malls, our movie theaters, so we can all breathe clean air again, which is what the 2002 constitutional amendment intended,” Carlton said.

The Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years to evaluate possible changes to the Constitution, is taking final votes on 12 proposed constitutional amendments. Measures that go on the Nov. 6 ballot will need approval from 60 percent of voters to pass.

by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

Comments

9 Responses to “Drilling, Vaping Bans Headed To November Ballot In Florida”

  1. M in Bratt on April 19th, 2018 2:34 pm

    The issue of vaping is not the meat of this proposal. I think the goal of this commission is to ban offshore oil drilling forever, and tying it to the totally unrelated issue of vaping is hedging their bet on getting it passed. With the unrest in the middle east, and rising gas and energy prices, we should all leave this issue up to the legislature, because in the very near future we may have to start drilling. Most of the other issues this commission is putting on the ballot should be handled by statute instead of constitutional amendment, and for this reason I am voting against all of them.

  2. John on April 18th, 2018 9:16 pm

    Welcome to the new California.

  3. Good job law-makers on April 18th, 2018 8:43 pm

    Not nearly bad as cigarette smoke, but vape vapor still stinks to non-smokers/vapers and it likely has some of the same health hazards as any smoke or vapor. I don’t care what you do in the privacy of your own home or vehicle, but I do not want it around me. Both of these amendments pass the commonsense test and should easily pass.

  4. Shell on April 18th, 2018 5:03 pm

    I would rather people vape than smoke. There is a person that vapes in my office and the scent makes me cough and sneeze. I have asked this person to refrain but they refuse to stop. What is wrong with asking them to go outside to vape? Find a spot on the other side of the smokers and have at it. Pass the law please!!

  5. bmrklean on April 18th, 2018 1:55 pm

    I agree with you Don Neese. To Kay It is just as rude to vape in public as it is to smoke. I do not like to smell it. It is still second hand, and it is gross. I will vote to ban it. My lungs My right to keep them pollution free.

  6. Stan on April 17th, 2018 11:56 pm

    Vaping in the office should be banned. I’m a smoker and don’t smoke indoors. Even if it was allowed I wouldn’t. I tried vape — it dries out my eyes an gives me headaches. People who vape in the office are not only inconsiderate of others, but it’s obnoxious and smells terrible. And despite what others think, it still contains nicotine in most cases, so why should it be allowed indoors?

  7. bar on April 17th, 2018 10:36 am

    there is nothing wrong with a vapor cigs.i been doing it along time and never felt better in my life.yes its a way to get off cigs.and im proud of people that got off nicotine ad harsh chemicals that are in cigs. what wrong with a flavoed vapor? people that dont do it yes is against it but i bet the familes that who was in second hand smoke are proud their love ones are doing it.i do agree in eating places and stores not to be smoked but outside in public i see theres nothing danger about it.

  8. Don Neese on April 17th, 2018 10:27 am

    I don’t care if people vape or don’t vape. But having their vape settle on my food is kinda like me spitting tobacco juice and it splattering on their plate. :(

  9. Kay on April 17th, 2018 7:56 am

    I disagree with banning people from vaping in public places. The vape smoke isn’t nearly as bothersome as someone standing there and smoking a real cigarette, which people still smoke in public as well.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News