Paper paves path for tobacco bill

Faculty in East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health and College of Business and Technology helped inform discussions leading to the passage of SB 2219/HB 2705 in the Tennessee legislature.

This bill, which took effect in July 2022, removes preemption of tobacco regulation in the state and exemption of age-restricted venues, such as bars, from smoke-free policy. Removal of preemption allows local governments to regulate the use of smoking and vapor products in agerestricted venues that are not retail tobacco stores. Previous law allowed local governments to regulate the use of tobacco and vapor products in buildings owned or leased by the local government but preempted them from regulating these products in agerestricted venues.

Dr. Hadii Mamudu, a Professor in the Department of Health Services Management and Policy in the College of Public Health, has long advocated for an end to preemption. He says this bill essentially adopts policies outlined in a white paper titled “An Economic Assessment of Smokefree Policies in Tennessee.”

This paper, on which Mamudu was the lead author, was a collaborative effort by various ETSU entities. Coauthors Dr. Jon Smith, a Professor of Economics and Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic and Research, and Dr. Prasun Bhattacharjee, an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance in Business and Technology, said, “It is a major achievement when economic theory can pave the path for policy changes that have important implications for community health.”

The assessment made the case that such policy would be cost-effective and provide economic and health benefits for the population, achieve equal and equitable protection from dangerous health effects of secondhand smoke exposure, meet higher demand for smokefree spaces, and more. Smith and Bhattacharjee executed the extensive economic data analysis that made the case for the policy change.

“This is a major policy change in tobacco control because until this law, Tennessee was one of the few remaining states with explicit preemption of tobacco regulation under a law enacted in 1994-95,” Mamudu said.