After tiring of the Arizona legislature's refusal to pass smokefree workplace legislation, Arizona health groups are taking their case directly to the voters.  On Friday, the Arizona Secretary of State's Office approved petitions clearing the way for a ballot initiative in November.  The initiative would provide virtually all Arizona workers with a safe, healthy, smokefree workplace.

"This was a great day," said Bill Pfeifer, Smoke-Free Arizona chairman and president and chief executive of the American Lung Association of Arizona. "Now, it's get the vote out!"

Smoke-Free Arizona will be fighting a competing proposal backed by RJ Reynolds tobacco company.  That proposal, misleadingly called the Arizona Non-Smoker Protection Act, would actually allow smoking in many locations and strike down all local smokefree ordinances that are more restrictive than the state standard.

If your state legislature still hasn't passed smokefree workplace legislation, maybe it's time for your state's health groups to do like Arizona and take the issue to the voters.  Contact your local American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, or American Heart Association.