Long Beach : Petition Forces Council to Reconsider Smoking Law

A tough no-smoking ordinance, passed in April by the Long Beach City Council, suffered a setback last week when a petition backed by the tobacco industry was confirmed by the city clerk. The petition demands that the council either repeal the new smoking regulations or put them before the voters for approval in a public referendum.

The clerk’s office announced that 65% of the signatures on the petition were found to be valid in a random sampling, enough to send the ordinance back to the council for review next week. Although only 1,526 of the 30,529 signatures on the petition were checked by the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office, the sample represented 19,804 signatures, 3,000 more than petition gatherers needed. City Clerk Shelba Powell said the city saved about $35,000 by having the county conduct a random sample rather than verifying all the signatures.

The ordinance, which has been suspended, required restaurants to expand their nonsmoking sections from one-fourth of their tables to two-thirds as of last month and to completely ban smoking by 1994. It was opposed by local restaurant owners, who felt the smoking prohibition would hurt business. After the law was passed, a pro-smoking group backed by the tobacco industry circulated the petition against the ordinance.

On June 25, the council will decide whether to repeal the ordinance and draft a new one, or put the measure before voters in the June, 1992, election.