Panel snuffs university smoking ban

Publication Date: 2005-04-18

• Author:Nashville (TN) City Paper
• Publication:Skip Cauthorn

A state House panel has killed legislation to prohibit smoking in University of Tennessee dormitories.

The measure breezed through the Senate 32-0 last week but failed to make it out of the House Agriculture Committee on a 9-4 vote.

The ban originated from UT students who brought the idea to state Sen. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville). Burchett saw the bill through the Senate where all 33 senators signed onto the measure as co-sponsors.

The bill faced steep opposition in the Agriculture Committee, where anti-tobacco bills are often extinguished.