Assembly OKs Prison Tobacco Ban

Eighty thousand smokers in California’s prisons would have to quit abruptly under a bill the Assembly passed Monday despite protests from some Democrats that smokers should be offered nicotine patches and other substitutes to ease the pain of withdrawal.

Bill supporters showed little concern as they voted to ban smoking in prison.

“Just one simple thing you need to remember,” said Assemblyman Doug La Malfa (R-Richvale). “It’s prison!”

The Assembly also passed two bills targeting prominent Democratic campaign consultant Richie Ross, who also works as a registered lobbyist representing unions, Indian tribes and other interests seeking to influence legislation. The bills would ban campaign consultants from lobbying lawmakers and other elected officials with whom they have had a business relationship in the previous six months.

All the bills now go to the Senate.

Democrats and Republicans alike embraced the prison ban on all tobacco products, AB 384, by Assemblyman Tim Leslie (R-Tahoe City). Leslie argued that because all of California’s county jails and state prison reception centers ban tobacco use, anyone sent to state prison typically has gone weeks without smoking.

Half the state’s 160,000 prisoners smoke, he said, and getting them to quit could pare hundreds of millions of dollars from the nearly $1 billion a year that taxpayers spend on prison healthcare.

Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Heimrich said that California prison inmates tend to be about 10 years older physiologically than they are chronologically because of unhealthy lifestyles.

“Healthcare is expensive and everybody knows that smoking contributes to heart disease, emphysema, all sorts of things,” Heimrich said, “and, as we have an aging population, prevention becomes more important.

“Smoking is one of those things we can actually target.”

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) voted for the bill but said he wished Leslie would amend it in the Senate to offer inmates nicotine patches or some other help quitting.

“I’ve seen a number of people in my family and others who have smoked and tried to kick the habit, and it’s incredibly difficult to do, and it can lead to a lot of negative side effects for a week or two or three,” Levine said.

Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) had the same concern. She voted against the bill, as did Patty Berg (D-Eureka), Joe Canciamilla (D-Pittsburg) and Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). It passed 64 to 4, with 12 lawmakers not voting.

The Assembly also found bipartisan support for the lobbyist conflict-of-interest measures, which were written last summer after Ross, in an outburst outside the Assembly, yelled at the staff members of two lawmakers who refused to vote for a bill sponsored by one of his clients.

AB 1785 by Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Los Feliz) passed 64 to 0, with 16 members not voting. A companion measure, AB 1784 by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis), passed 59 to 0, with 21 members not voting.

Many of those who abstained from voting were Republicans, some of whom said they supported the bills but wanted to be certain that the bills are amended in the Senate to remove a ban on contingency fees or bonus payments to political consultants.

Frommer and Wolk agreed to delete such a ban but said their legislation would still require that such arrangements -- by which a political consultant gets paid if his or her candidate wins election -- are publicly disclosed.

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber (D-Mountain View), who has hired Ross as a political consultant and employed his son on her staff, questioned whether the bills would prevent a lawmaker from seeking the advice of a consultant who also works as a lobbyist.

Frommer said legislators are free to seek such advice, but the campaign consultant cannot lobby a lawmaker for whom he has worked.

Ross could not be reached for comment.

The state Senate, in an afternoon session, approved 17 appointments made by Gov. Gray Davis before leaving office in November. The appointments were the result of a compromise negotiated by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) and Republicans, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who agreed to approve the 17 nominees while blocking dozens of other last-minute Davis appointments.

Four senior Davis administration officials were among those confirmed: former Davis Cabinet Secretary Daniel Zingale and former Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Bustamante, whose appointments to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board were confirmed 27 to 6; Ann Richardson, former chief deputy legislative secretary, confirmed to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board in the same 27-6 vote; and former Davis Press Secretary Steven Maviglio, confirmed to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board by a 25-9 vote; and 13 other appointees to various regional water quality control boards and three other boards or commissions, approved as a group 28 to 3.

The Senate also quickly approved SB 391 by Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier), which would make it easier for South Gate and other communities dealing with corruption scandals to file actions when wrongful claims against a city have been discovered. It was approved 23 to 10. The bill now goes to the Assembly.