Florida Gov. DeSantis signs beach smoking bill

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a measure that can permit cities and counties to limit smoking at seashores and parks that they personal, in line with information posted on the Senate web site. 

The bill (HB 105) builds on a 2002 constitutional modification that prohibited smoking in eating places and at different indoor workplaces.

Under it, nevertheless, native governments won’t be able to forestall “the smoking of unfiltered cigars.” 

Lawmakers overwhelmingly accepted the measure throughout the legislative session that led to March.

At the time, Senate sponsor Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, mentioned the intention of the bill was to rid seashores of cigarette butts that do not shortly biodegrade. 

“If you live near a beach, the number one picked-up item consistently on an annual basis over and over again, are cigarette butts,” Gruters mentioned. 

“What happens all the time is this second-hand smoke, to me it is disgusting. But what’s even more disgusting is when you reach into the sand and pick up one of those butts. And those filters that are in the cigarettes are what ends up in the water, destroying the environment.” 

But in opposing the bill, Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-North Miami Beach, mentioned it will be discriminatory. 

“When you can have five guys sitting around smoking fat cigars and one Black kid over here smoking a Black & Mild, and the cop can go and exercise probable cause on that person and has to ignore the five, you have a problem,” Pizzo mentioned throughout a Senate debate.