The Daily Star - Draft legislation on smoking and new prisons on Parliament session agenda - August 10, 2011

BEIRUT: Parliament is set to convene Wednesday, picking up where it left off last week to discuss draft laws that range from smoking to the construction of a new prison.
On the agenda is a draft law to control smoking, notable in part because Lebanon has been obligated to pass tobacco control legislation since the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a convention which the country signed, entered into force in 2005. The law would ban smoking in all public places, including restaurants, bars and offices. It would also make all tobacco advertising illegal, and would mandate a pictorial warning on the dangers of cigarettes to cover 40 percent of each pack.
Also set to be considered is a draft law that would equalize marriage discounts for working men and women who pay income tax. Currently, married women receive less of a discount on their income tax than married men.
A draft law that would give compensation or pension to ex-detainees of Syrian prisons is also on the table, as is legislation that would bump up the employment status and pay grade of employees and retirees of the Telecommunications Ministry.
Likely to prompt debate is a draft law that would secure money in the 2011 budget to build prisons in the north and south. Building more prisons is a potential solution to the problem of prison overcrowding in the country, an issue that was debated in last week’s session.
Parliament was widely expected to approve a draft law to make one year of jail time equivalent to nine months, but the legislation was not approved.
Last week’s two-day legislative session saw the discussion of 37 items. Parliament endorsed a draft law demarcating the country’s maritime borders with Israel and Cyprus, and passed another draft law that for the first time outlawed human trafficking in the country.