A proposal that would ban smoking on the property of state-funded institutions is on its way to the full Senate after a higher education committee passed the measure Tuesday.

Springfield lawmakers approved the proposal  7-5 after hearing testimony in favor of the measure from Shana Harrison, former Illini Democrats president, and a representative from the American Lung Association.

The proposal, first backed by Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, would prohibit smoking starting July 2014 and would require state institutions to establish a task force that would be in charge of overseeing implementation.

The vote was split between partisan lines for the most part, Harrison said. The higher education committee, chaired by Sen. Michael Frerichs, D-52, comprises a Democratic-heavy membership.

Harrison, who served on the campus’s smoke-free ad hoc committee in 2012, was instrumental in leading a successful referendum vote in favor of a smoke-free campus in November 2011.

This proposal comes as the University is preparing to go smoke-free this November.