Tobacco Documents Online

No-S'moking Law Opponent Hostir~g Council at Resort Los Angeles Times, October By FRANK CLIFFORD and'.KEV PN RQDERICK, 7limes StaJd'Wriiters Los.Angeies City Council mem- bers are being hosted at a two-day retreat at a Palm Desert resort by the lyos Angeles Area, Chamber of Commerce;,one of several business groups that has been lobbying vigorously against a proposed city law to regulate smoking on the job. • Chamber officials said' thaU the retreat, which is paid for by the chamber, has been an annual affair for at least 10 ~years and' is held to discttss issues of concern to the councili and the chamber. This year, the retreat is being,}ield at the Palm Desert Rlesort Country Club and'.Hotel, a 2100-mllion complex including lakes; tennis courts andl& championship golf course. Council members were given suites overlooking the golf course. The chamber paid an il3-i group ratetor the rooms. a hotellspokes- man said. Members of the council saidithat the chamber retreat is the only event of its kind. paid for, by a civic organization,, to be held for the council each year. 10 Members Exyerted The retreat, which began, with cocktails and dinner'Thursday evening and ends Saturday morn- ing, gives officials of the down- town's most influential business association, a chance to talk to council' members in a variety of settings, over cocktails and dinner: while playing golf and tennis and at a three-hour, mecting; Six council'membcrs and spouses arrihed Thursday night. and cham- ber officialsi saidl the' y anticipated that at least 10 council members would be present by today. Chamber President Ray Remy said! that about 20 chamber direc- tors would join the council mem- bers for the retreat. hlemy said that the chamber has prepared anagen- da that covers several governmen- tal' issues, such as ~ the proposed I Metro Rail subMay. in which thee chamber has an interest. Remy said the anti-smoking, proposal'williprobabh• be discussed arthe retreat. "My guess is thaCit will come up. although it is not a prime agenda item " Rhmv z wi"PMirclav Greg Flietcher, director of gov- ernmental reiations for the cham- ber, said that although the chamber would prefer no localJaw onsmok- ing, io is satisfied with the modified ordinance approved' by the council Tiiesday: "We are content with the way the ordinance is currently consti, tuted." The proposed~ ordinance went before the council Oct. 9. At that time, the council voted preliminary approval of a stringent law that would have permitted a nonsmok- ing employee to ban,smoking ima work area if an employer failed to devise a smoking policy satisfacto- ry to the non-smoker. The ordi- nance would have made it a crime for an employer to retaliate against an employee who sought to enforce thrsmoking law. On Tuesday, however, after in= ~. ~ `My guess is that it W (the smoking law) will ~ ~ come uip ;' Remy said. tensive lobbying by businesss groups. including the chamber, the council weakened the proposed ordinance, requiring only that em- ployers would' have to make a "good-faith" efforv to protect non-smokers. The council is scheduled to take final action on the revised ordi- nance nexoweek. Laura Fredricks. manager: of news medla relations for the cham- beri. said the retreat, was not planned to coincide with!the coun- cil's consideration of the smoking, law: Ftedricks said'the date for the retreat was set a year ago, long before the smoking measure was placed on the council agenda i Council members and chamber officaals~ have characterized the retreatas primariiy a holiday in the desert punctuated by a few hours of serious conversation, "In the morning you have a meeting where you discuss things that the chamber ia generally con- PleaRe see COU1dCIt., r.tr6 .. U 19, 1984 .~ °~ra. > o a,. `R3'ECc, lo'oL mo> ~'=ul ~~cor a a>- u, Y t3 c~3 ~° m a o o =M cLa eeo ° m5;- o~o'aevs *2 Eca - e+`°`$-6 3 ~. ~ E c a °o~° ? e ,: ~~ b ~ ~~9 ~ ~ r ~ o o5 ` a, $,° r V._e i 30 3 u a, v L E 3 ~,,. ~ ~ V$m~v'°'~g`m°~m"°'€ E=~L~ ~~zwE''°~ 3 sSao',w~= .i..°- o~ n oYE >c` e Q c w 'm w o m~ ,, o L,o c° c>.~w'G~o' _ a`~'aw,ai ~ e>_ =•o c o & "-t °vy :y 'e a Z m~ ~ ~ 9 0 c e'~ < ~~~ '~ E~ E~ O s l ~~~~' E..Y ow .o* a3 ~~'.eE4!w~m' E.• po`o e- Ca e po ar- n- W e u~e o'W ~Yt!? ~s V L v= o e m~ e 0 .~ v ~'.` u! 3; -' _ ©.7..0... .c~°E Je"C= Lo.y.°'~' oo -. .L. L fJ. y ,o W-0 .. - t c v ~30 0`~~V vWpuW % = ~.-;- .. eo~'Oj ace o°i co ou 3L~ 3_ ..~ ~yU_d c W.L'..af .,.~ ~c 'a U 0 aL_ ~~;"'ac''ie'>~~_~ ~'m= a6 y > " E ~ o,-r ~' °t,~ c,ar .. ° m c~`-~ ~ o c a o m ~aZ - Z$~';;'Woe °>c~+` ~ O a eO a.0C 3,E:,~m9~~e~cu9- y= ..._._,te, da. ce~Lo . Q C>. G j~^ y. 0 Z~W, CJ V' L y. ~~- ~ s' > uC~ o `°E.'a G~ u,aEe3 .5 Ea_ u°LE Z .Q~f,~.r.% `~.l' 3~.,L ,. C NN-12