Despite polls showing overwhelming public support and endorsements from celebrities like Lance Armstrong, efforts to establish a statewide smoking ban in the workplace have fallen flat in recent sessions of the Texas Legislature, The Texas Tribune reports. But a state agency is finding that the billions of dollars it has at its disposal may allow it to be more effective in getting comprehensive tobacco-free policies established—most notably, at university campuses. University administrators around the state are considering campuswide tobacco-free policies as a result of new rules established by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. In January, the institute’s oversight committee adopted a policy that requires grant recipients to have policies prohibiting tobacco use in buildings and structures where financed research is occurring, as well as at the outdoor areas immediately adjacent to those buildings. The grant recipients must also provide smoking cessation services for community members who desire them…

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