Controversial Tobacco Bill Passes Test : Legislation: Assembly panel approves measure on second vote. Opponents say it is aimed at heading off attempts to restrict cigarette vending machine sales.

A key Assembly committee passed a measure Wednesday that opponents warned could stop California cities from further regulating the distribution of tobacco in public and private places.

The opponents contended that the legislation was aimed at heading off attempts in Los Angeles County and elsewhere to ban or severely restrict the sale of cigarettes from vending machines.

But supporters of the measure said it was designed only to set a statewide standard on the tobacco industry’s distribution of free promotional samples.

“It is a fair proposal,” said Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles). “It is unfair now in Los Angeles County, where you have 86 different cities and 86 different ordinances and expect people to be in compliance.”

The controversial measure was approved at a hectic session of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, which sent the bill to the Assembly floor as it was considering more than 200 measures in a rush to meet a self-imposed legislative deadline. The first committee vote on the bill ended with the measure on the losing side of a 10-2 tally. About an hour later, after lobbyists for the industry spoke to several committee members, the bill passed on a 12-9 vote.

Opponents said Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), who has received significant campaign contributions from the tobacco industry, was pushing hard for the bill.

Brown could not be reached for comment, and Polanco denied that the speaker was involved. But Brown did appoint Assemblyman Pete Chacon (D-San Diego) to the committee as a replacement for another member just for Wednesday’s meeting. Chacon voted for the bill, which passed without a single vote to spare.

“This is a tobacco industry relief act,” said Mark A. Pertschuk, executive director of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights. “We have had a vital anti-tobacco movement at the grass-roots level. This is a slap in the face of every Californian who has worked on this issue.”

On the surface, the bill would toughen laws against marketing and distributing tobacco products to minors. But it also includes a provision declaring that only the state and not local governments can regulate certain aspects of tobacco distribution.

Polanco said this “preemption” in his bill applies only to laws governing the distribution of free tobacco samples. The measure would outlaw the distribution of free tobacco products within two blocks of places where minors are known to congregate.

Polanco said, and the Legislature’s chief lawyer agreed, that a law already on the books prevents cities from regulating cigarette vending machines. The city of Duarte recently passed such a measure, and Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights is pushing a similar proposal in Los Angeles.

But opponents of Polanco’s legislation, which was drafted by the tobacco industry, said current law does not already block local government from regulating vending machines. They said it only prevents cities and counties from imposing different fines than the state has imposed for the distribution of tobacco to minors.

Even putting the bill in its best light, opponents said, it still would represent an unwarranted intrusion into the rights of local government.