Current legislation that requires designated sections for smokers and nonsmokers on the premises of privately owned b...

Victoria on March 29, 2021

Hi @Anthony-Resendes,

Happy to help!

The passage concludes that the legislation which requires designated sections for smokers and non-smokers in privately owned businesses cannot be justified.

The passage then provides two premises in support of this conclusion, clarifying that the issue is not whether non-smokers may be harmed by the smoker; rather, the issue is that the government is violating private businesses' right to determine their own policies and rules.

We are looking for the principle which would allow this conclusion to be properly drawn. At first glance, this legislation would seem to be positive because it would protect non-smokers' health. However, the legislation is only positive from one perspective. If one views the protection of private businesses' rights as more important than the health of individuals or the government's responsibility to protect public health, then this legislation could not be justified.

This is restated by answer choice (C), making it the correct answer.

P: non-smokers may be harmed by smoke

P: the government enacted legislation requiring designated sections for smokers and non-smokers, thereby infringing private businesses' rights

P: private businesses' rights override governmental protection of individual/public health

C: therefore, this legislation cannot be justified.

Answer choice (A) is incorrect because, according to this principle, this would be a situation where government intrusion would be justified, contrary to the passage's conclusion.

Answer choice (B) is incorrect because this contradicts the passage's conclusion as the legislation would be justified.

Answer choice (D) is incorrect because the passage does not discuss employees.

Answer choice (E) is incorrect because the passage's conclusion is focused on the justifiability of the legislation; it does not discuss whether a successful compromise can or should be found.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.