Legislators call bill to allow campus tobacco bans hypocritical

CARSON CITY — Supporters of a bill allowing Nevada college campuses to ban tobacco received blow-back Wednesday from Republicans on an Assembly panel who suggested the move is hypocritical when tobacco taxes help fund higher education.

Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, and chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, said taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products raise more than $100 million in state revenue a year.

“You want more money for higher ed,” Hansen said during a hearing on Senate Bill 339. “But we’re going to tell people who pay the tax they have no right to smoke on a government campus.”

SB339, sponsored by state Sen. Debbie Smith, D-Sparks and others, would authorize college campuses to impose stricter rules against smoking than allowed by state law, an authorization local school districts have already.

The bill earlier was approved unanimously by the state Senate.

Marc Johnson, president of the University of Nevada, Reno, said making the campus tobacco free would provide a healthy environment for students, staff and faculty and demonstrate values in line with the university’s research and academic mission.

“We’re not going to have smoking areas on campus,” Johnson said.

After the hearing, Johnson said he was taken aback by the questioning, saying the benefits to public health and social costs associated with smoking far outweigh concerns over tobacco tax funding.

The committee took no action on the bill.

UNR organizations voted in favor of the tobacco ban, and other campuses could follow suit if the bill is passed.

Besides smoking, the bill would allow broad restrictions on sale, distribution, marketing, display and promotion of tobacco. As written, the bill does not prohibit vaping.

Johnson said no students would be suspended for breaking the rule. Instead, he said the goal is for “social enforcement.”

But some committee members repeatedly asked about banning smoking while being funded in part by tobacco taxes.

Assemblyman Glenn Trowbridge, R-Las Vegas, asked if UNR was willing to accept reduced funding based on the smoking ban and “bear the responsibility of the consequences.”

Trowbridge also peppered Caden Fabbi, president of the Associated Students of University of Nevada, asking how much more per-credit he would be willing to pay to replace tobacco tax funding.

Fabbi said the UNR smoking ban was supported by student government organizations.

Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz, D-North Las Vegas, noted the bill would not make prohibiting smoking on all Nevada campuses compulsory but permissible.

She and others also said the bill wouldn’t require students and faculty to quit smoking, adding they can always do so off campus or in their own homes.

Cheryl-Hug English, medical director of the UNR student health center, said 25 percent of campus staff and faculty smoke, and about half that percentage of students do.

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901. Find her on Twitter: @SandraChereb