Smoking Ban Passes Senate Committee

Today a committee of the state Senate gave nearly unanimous approval to a bill that would ban smoking in all state offices and state-owned buildings.

Before voting, the Senate State and Local Government Committee heard testimony from prominent lobbyist Mary Nell Bryan, who almost died from a pulmonary embolism about a decade ago.

“I usually don’t talk about this much, and I never have in public, but I felt compelled to tell you about it today, because my doctors tell me the primary reason for my health crisis was the second hand smoke I encounter every day on the hill. I have no other preexisting risk factors they could find.”

The committee approved the smoking ban by a vote of 6 to zero, with one abstention.

The House version of the bill has been placed behind the budget, meaning that house will hammer out the state budget before considering the measure. That’s because it will take an estimated 13-thousand dollars to mark 525 state facilities as smoke-free, at the cost of 25 dollars a sign.