AUGUSTA – Julie Rioux of Minot would like her daughter, Olivia, who is about 18 months old, to be able to play on a beach in one of Maine’s state parks without ending up with a cigarette butt in her mouth.

State Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, would like that, too. So he sponsored a bill to make it illegal for visitors to smoke on beaches in state parks.

“To me, the No. 1 place in this state today where people are exposed to second-hand smoke is our beaches at our state parks,” said Nutting, who testified on behalf of his bill on Wednesday during a public hearing before members of the Health and Human Services Committee. “You take a state park beach, especially on the weekend, it’s crowded, packed with people, and we allow smoking.”

Nutting said he composed the bill after hearing a complaint by his constituent Rioux.

“Not only is it the second-hand cigarette smoke, but when she’s digging in the sand, she’s finding cigarette butts and sticking them in her mouth, because people her age, that’s what they do,” Rioux said. “We just want a safe, happy, healthy, fresh-air place to go play in the summer.”

Rioux said she was visiting Range Ponds State Park in Poland last summer when the incident occurred.

Representatives from the Maine Public Health Association, Health Policy Partners of Maine, the Maine Medical Association and the American Lung Association in Maine also testified in favor of the bill, citing potential health benefits from the proposed legislation.

“The reason this type of policy change works is simple: This is what the vast majority of Maine people want,” Tina Pettingill said on behalf of the Maine Public Health Association. “Surveys consistently demonstrate that over 75 percent of Mainers support smoke-free environments.”

Just last year, lawmakers successfully passed a law banning people from smoking in cars with children under the age of 18.

Will Harris, the director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands in Maine’s Department of Conservation, said he has discussed the bill with Dr. Dora Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and she pledged to provide signs that would assist with the potential change.

“Restricted smoking areas are a common occurrence in many facets of our lives,” Harris said. “We no longer smoke in public buildings, restaurants or bars. We believe that with the passage of this legislation, we can implement a no-smoking-on-the-beach policy this season in our state parks.”

Nutting also said he hoped the bill would move quickly enough to take effect this summer.

“I’m optimistic,” he said.

No one rose in opposition to the bill.

A similar bill, proposed by Rep. L. Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls, would ban smoking on public beaches and in public parks. It is scheduled for a public hearing next week. Committee members decided to hold a joint work session on the two bills, presumably to draft a compromise bill.