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• Shirley vetoes tobacco ban 

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. Thursday vetoed the Commercial Tobacco Free Act that would have banned cigarette smoking and tobacco chewing in all public places on the Navajo Nation, including casinos.

In his veto message to Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan, Shirley said that although it is indisputable and already widely known that commercial and smokeless tobacco use is harmful to individual users and those affected by secondhand smoke, he was concerned that the ban would infringe upon bona fide religious ceremonies.

The president said the ban also would affect the Nation’s ability to generate revenues through its gaming initiative, did not address concerns of due process and equal protection, and failed to adequately focus on underage smoking.

The law, he said, “is unreasonably broad, unenforceable, provides no administrative appeal process, puts the Nation at a competitive disadvantage, and fails to address the real problem on the Navajo Nation of underage smoking.”

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