LANSING, Mich.-Senator Ray Basham (D-Taylor) called on his fellow lawmakers today to sign a pledge to support smokefree workplace legislation in Michigan. Basham is the sponsor of Senate Bill 114, which would institute a statewide policy to protect the health of Michigan workers from secondhand smoke, and he has been fighting for smokefree workplaces for over a decade.

“Secondhand smoke exposure continues to be a major health risk for patrons and workers alike, and a major strain on state-funded medical care later as people face health issues like asthma, emphysema and cancer,” said Basham. “It’s also good for the economy, as Michigan workers would no longer have to choose between breathing in secondhand smoke and getting a paycheck. With the overwhelming public support of this issue and the continued findings on the negative impacts of secondhand smoke, we need to make smokefree workplaces a top priority, and I encourage my fellow lawmakers to do so.”

Basham has asked all of his fellow lawmakers to sign a pledge that they will work on the smokefree workplaces issue. To hold the legislature accountable for protecting the health of Michigan workers and make sure that the public knows who is and isn’t acting in their best interest on this issue, Sen. Basham is making the information on who has signed the pledge public.

“People deserve to know why this issue still hasn’t been addressed, and which of their lawmakers are trying to make progress on this,” said Basham. “Based on the public support of this issue, there should be a lot more signatures on this pledge. I think people will be surprised-there are even doctors who haven’t signed it. I encourage every worker and patron who is tired of inhaling the toxic fumes of secondhand smoke to contact their lawmaker and encourage them to sign this pledge.”

Despite Sen. Basham’s decade of work to make Michigan workplaces smokefree, the state has yet to implement such a policy. Michigan continues to opt to be the “Great Late State,” as nearly all of the Midwest, and most recently, Virginia-a major stop on Tobacco Road-have passed smokefree workplaces laws.

A complete list of who has and has not signed Sen. Basham’s smokefree workplaces pledge, and the language of the pledge, are included below. Citizens are encouraged to visit http://senate.michigan.gov/SenatorInfo/find-your-senator.htm and http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp to identify their legislators and how to contact their offices to encourage them to support smokefree workplaces in Michigan.

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Smoke-Free Workplace Law Pledge

I, __________________________________, pledge to support a comprehensive smoke-free workplace law to protect all Michigan workers.

______________________________________ ____________________________

signature date

Please return your signed pledge to Senator Basham.

Thus far the following legislators have signed the pledge:

Senators:

Anderson, Barcia, Basham, Birkholz, Brater, Cherry, Clarke, Gleason, Hunter, Jacobs, Olshove, Patterson, Prusi, Scott, Switalski, Thomas, and Whitmer.

Representatives:

Ball, Bauer, Constan, Coulouris, Dean, Ebli, Lindberg, Lipton, Liss, Lori, Melton, Miller, Neumann, P. Scott, Segal, Slavens, Smith, Valentine, and Warren.

The following legislators have NOT signed the pledge:

Senators:

Allen, Bishop, Brown, Cassis, Clark-Coleman, Cropsey, Garcia, George, Gilbert, Hardiman, Jansen, Jelinek, Kahn, Kuipers, McManus, Pappageorge, Richardville, Sanborn, Stamas, and Van Woerkom.

Representatives:

Agema, Amash, Angerer, Barnett, Bennett, Bledsoe, Bolger, Boohee, L. Brown, T. Brown, Byrnes, Byrum, Calley, Caul, Clemente, Cook-Scott, Corriveau, Crawford, Cushingberry, Daley, Denby, DeShazor, Dillon, Donigan, Durhal, Elsenheimer, Espinoza, Geiss, Genetski, Gonzales, Green, Gregory, Griffin, Haase, Haines, Hammel, Hansen, Haugh, Haveman, Hildenbrand, Horn, Huckleberry, Jackson, Johnson, Rick Jones, Robert Jones, Kandrevas, Kennedy, Knollenberg, Kowall, Kurtz, Lahti, LeBlanc, Leland, Lemmons, Lund, Marleau, Mayes, McDowell, McMillin, Meadows, Meekhof, Meltzer, Moore, Moss, Nathan, Nerat, Opsommer, Pavlov, Pearce, Polidori, Proos, Roberts, Rocca, Rogers, R. Schmidt, W. Schmidt, Schuitmaker, Scripps, Sheltrown, Simpson, Slezak, Spade, Stamas, Stanley, Switalski, Tlaib, Tyler, Walsh, Womack, and Young.

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