Arlington Chairman Targets Smoking, Trans Fats

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IF NEW ARLINGTON board chairman Walter Tejada has his way, smoke and trans fats will get harder to find in his county's restaurants.

During the county's annual organizing session on Tuesday, Tejada, Northern Virginia's highest-ranking Latino leader, proposed to push for the elimination of smoking in public places and to encourage restaurants to drop unhealthy trans fats from their menus.

By law, that's about all he can do.

Unlike jurisdictions such as Montgomery County in Maryland, which has banned both smoking and trans fats, counties in Virginia are barred from enacting such laws unless given permission by the General Assembly, The Post's Kirstin Downey reports. That legal roadblock has led to more roundabout efforts in places like Alexandria, where officials are using their control over land-use regulations to try to push restaurants and bars to ban smoking or risk losing their operating permits.

Statewide legislation to ban smoking in restaurants has failed in the past, but Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is likely to revisit the issue when the General Assembly reconvenes this year, Downey reports.

» "Targeting Smoking, Trans Fat and Cars" [WaPo]

Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post