Council sends proposed tobacco ban for Minute Maid Park back for revisions

Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, the measure’s chief backer and herself a cancer survivor, said she expects the proposal to return to the council table after revisions. Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, the measure’s chief backer and herself a cancer survivor, said she expects the proposal to return to the council table after revisions. Photo: Karen Warren, Staff / Houston Chronicle Photo: Karen Warren, Staff / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 57 Caption Close Council sends proposed tobacco ban for Minute Maid Park back for revisions 1 / 57 Back to Gallery

Houston City Council on Wednesday indefinitely tabled an ordinance to ban professional baseball players from using smokeless tobacco during games at Minute Maid Park.

The council unanimously backed a motion to refer the item back to Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration rather than putting it to a vote Wednesday.

Turner pointed to concerns raised by a Major League Baseball Players Association executive during the council’s public session on Tuesday, saying he wants to ensure the proposal takes a pragmatic approach to protecting children. The goal of the measure is to deter young fans from mimicking their favorite players’ addictive and carcinogenic habit.

Kevin McGuiness, the union’s chief operating officer, said Houston’s proposal was different from the bans already covering half of all MLB stadiums in that it targeted only baseball players, rather than everyone in the stadium, and that violations constituted criminal misdemeanors, not civil penalties to be assessed after MLB-run hearings.

“It’s good to step back, take into account what we heard, take into account what the other 15 cities have done, and then make any adjustments that may need to be made,” Turner said after Wednesday’s meeting.

The mayor and Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, the measure’s chief backer and herself a cancer survivor, said they expect the proposal to return to the council table after revisions.

“This is an ordinance that we’re trying to pass to protect children,” Cohen said. “It’s not designed to be punitive — it’s really designed to be protective. Baseball players are heroes. Lots of athletes are, but baseball is the one that’s associated with chewing tobacco.”

Cities can regulate tobacco use in major league ballparks under the terms of a 2016 collective bargaining agreement between team owners and players. The contract also bans new players from using smokeless tobacco and prohibits players in any stadium from carrying tobacco products onto the field in packages or tins when fans are present.

The National Football League and National Hockey League already bar players from using the product on the field or in an arena, leaving baseball as the only major professional sport in which players use smokeless tobacco during games.

Nearly a fifth of Texas high school seniors used smokeless tobacco in 2016, representatives from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids told the council members at a recent committee hearing, and athletes are twice as likely as non-athletes to do so.

Houston’s measure is supported by the Astros and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, as well as M.D. Anderson and other public health groups such as the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association.

Reid Ryan, Astros president of business operations, said Wednesday that the club supports the league’s work to combat smokeless tobacco use, and noted such products have been banned at the minor league level for years.

The effort is good for children and for the players themselves, Ryan said, referencing the 2014 death of MLB legend Tony Gwynn from oral cancer; Gwynn blamed the disease on his years of chewing tobacco use.

“We have a responsibility as an organization, as players, as a league, to set good examples for kids. They look up to our guys,” Ryan said. “The fact that Major League Baseball has been pushing this in its major league cities across the country, we look at it as a good thing."

Councilman Mike Knox, whose motion tabled the item on Wednesday, said he believes proposed ordinance is unconstitutional because it would violate the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause by targeting a subset of people, namely, professional ballplayers.

“The proposed ordinance was, in fact, unfair and unwieldy and, quite frankly, unconstitutional,” Knox said after the meeting. “We don’t like baseball players chewing tobacco in front of kids. That seemed to be the focus of this ordinance. And if that’s true, that’s a statement. It shouldn’t be a law.”

McGuiness, of the players’ union, made it clear he was not asking the council to refrain from passing such a ban, however, and noted the players had not opposed any of the state or municipal bans already enacted.

“We understand the importance and value the importance of an ordinance of this kind, and we’d be happy to talk to you to make sure this works effectively for all involved,” McGuiness told the mayor Tuesday, after Turner indicated he would take a second look at the proposal.

Reporter Chandler Rome contributed to this story.

mike.morris@chron.com

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