Bill barring smoking near entrances of state-owned buildings stalls in Legislature

Publication Date: 2013-06-06

• Author:Sheila V Kumar
• Publication:New Orleans Times Picayune

Smokers looking to light up a cigarette near the entrances of state-owned office buildings can breathe a sigh of relief after legislation barring the habit died in the Legislature Thursday. 

House Bill 111 would have banned smoking within 25 feet of a state-owned office building. The bill had made it past both chambers but was amended on the Senate floor to also bar smoking marijuana within the same parameters.

The House rejected the amendments, sending it to a conference committee, which then took out the marijuana clause because it is already illegal to smoke the drug. The House agreed to the modified version but the bill then stalled on the Senate floor...