Smoking ban set for Senate vote today

Publication Date: 2006-05-23

• Author:Lucas L. Johnson II
• Publication:Knoxville News Sentinel

Bryan's illness eventually was traced to smoking - not hers, but the secondhand smoke she has inhaled during nearly 10 years working at the state Capitol. Her pulmonary embolism - a condition that occurs when a vessel is blocked in the lungs - is the reason the nonsmoking Bryan has joined supporters of a bill moving through the Legislature that would ban smoking in all buildings owned or operated by the state.

The proposal has done surprisingly well in a state that is among the nation's top tobacco producers.

The legislation is scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor today, and the House version made it to a House subcommittee, where it has been placed among bills to be evaluated after the Legislature works out its regular budget.

Roy Herron, the bill's Senate sponsor, hopes the measure passes because he said it's needed to maintain a healthy work environment.