California (sigh) leads.

Byline: The Register-Guard

If Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski keeps a private list of reasons to envy his counterpart in California, he can add this: Arnold Schwarzenegger has a bill on his desk mandating fire-safe cigarettes. Kulongoski could have signed a similar bill earlier, but the Oregon House of Representatives, in a craven bow to the tobacco lobby, denied him the opportunity.

Senate Bill 738 would have required that all cigarettes sold in Oregon be self-extinguishing. Retailers would have been given time to exhaust their stocks of cigarettes that do not meet the fire-safe standard, but after that, only cigarettes that do not stay lit after a smoker stops puffing on them would be available in Oregon.

Lit cigarettes are the nation's leading cause of fatal fires. According to the director of the Trauma Foundation at San Francisco General Hospital, lit cigarettes caused 31,200 fires in 2001, in which 830 people died. Cigarettes that go out after they're dropped or discarded would not only save the lives of smokers who doze off in front of their television sets, but also the lives of others caught in fires - including children, neighbors and firefighters. An estimated $386 million in property damage could be avoided, and uncounted acres of grasslands and forests spared.

SB 738 passed the Senate on a 21-8 vote, but House Speaker Karen Minnis kept the bill buried in a committee, saying that fire safety standards for cigarettes should be set at the national level. In principle, she's right; in practice, waiting for Congress to act on this issue is like waiting for the next ice age. The states will have to show the way forward, and a national standard will emerge after the number of states with fire-safe standards for cigarettes reaches critical mass.

That could happen with Schwarzenegger's signature on a bill approved earlier this month by the California Assembly. New York has required that cigarettes meet "reduced ignition propensity" standards since mid-2004. Cigarette manufacturers have succeeded in meeting this standard by using a special type of ridged paper that reduces the chance that a cigarette left unattended will continue burning. A fire-safe cigarette law takes effect in Canada next month. If fire-safe cigarettes are required in enough large markets, manufacturers will simply stop making the other kind.

It's important, however, for the tobacco manufacturers to see the demand for fire-safe standards gain momentum. Vermont made an important contribution when it adopted New York's standards, effective next year. Oregon could have done its part, and showed that it was at least a few weeks ahead of California when it comes to common-sense, life-saving legislation.

Instead, Oregonians are on the sidelines, hoping to benefit from California's readiness to do the right thing. Schwarzenegger should sign the bill. Kulongoski should have been given a chance to beat him to it.