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California has some of the toughest indoor smoking laws in
the nation. However, California’s tribal casinos belong to
Native American sovereign tribes and are exempt from state
labor laws. An estimated 70,000 workers in these settings are
exposed to secondhand smoke on the job.
ETR’s California Clean Air Project (CCAP) builds
relationships with the sovereign nations to protect the health
of casino workers. The project offers technical assistance to
the 27 counties with tribal casinos and to
the tribal entities themselves.
In partnership with tribal entities, we’ve helped conduct air monitoring in casinos and performed
surveys of patrons, employees and tribal members. The results of these surveys are helping to turn
the tide of opinion. Using this data, tribal members are working to persuade their leadership to
adopt policies that protect tribal members, casino workers and patrons from secondhand smoke.
Promoting smoke free workplaces
Building relationships with California Tribal Nations
Our CCAP partners
In our efforts to support clean air, we have partnered
with 61 different county tobacco programs, as well as:
Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights
Arizona University
Arizonans for a Smoke-Free Arizona Coalition
California Tobacco Control Program state projects
The Coalition for Tobacco-Free Kids
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office
New Jersey Gasp
Pacific Research Center
Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India
The Public Health Institute
San Diego University
Stanford University
University of San Francisco
ETR Associates is an active member of:
California Indian Law Association
California Nations Indian Gaming Association
Nevada California Indian Housing Association
CCAP
California Clean
Air Project
Promoting smoke-free
casinos for workers
and patrons
Partnering makes the difference
ETR is the first health promotion agency able to become an
associate member of the California Nations Indian Gaming
Association (CNIGA). Most of the other associates are
business people or lawyers.
We were very fortunate. Through our networking, we were
able to meet the general manager of the Win River Casino in
Redding/Shasta. He’s interested in health, and he was really
impressed with what we’re trying to do to limit exposure to
secondhand smoke. He said, ‘You’ve got a hard road ahead,
but we’ll help you out.’ This opened a lot of doors for us.
We partnered in a joint presentation at last February’s
Western Indian Gaming Conference—they actually paid the
$3,000 fee for us to present! They sent out survey cards to 1990
customers and offered $10 of free play as an incentive. We had
more than 1250 returned, which is an amazing return rate.
When you’re able to partner with the tribal entities in these
efforts, you get good, clean data because it’s all above-board.
I believe when you share a passion for health
with people, you can do great things together.
Narinder Dhaliwal
Project Director, California Clean Air Project
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