On the heels of a tragic Madison house fire that killed a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student last fall, the state Assembly and state Senate are moving forward in tandem on a pair of identical bills that aim to reduce fires caused by cigarettes.

The proposed bills mandate that all cigarettes sold in Wisconsin be made with flame-resistant paper that self-extinguishes if it is not being smoked. If passed, all cigarettes sold in Wisconsin would have to conform to the new regulation.

So far, the bills have moved swiftly through both the Assembly and Senate with nearly unanimous support. Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, a key proponent of the bill, said she is confident the measure will be approved.

�When you have companion bills that are moving this quickly, it is not a question of whether the legislation will be passed, it is largely a case of seeing which bill will get through both houses first,� Robson said.

Ryan Murray, communications director for Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the bills would have little impact on tobacco vendors, producers and suppliers.

�Some Republicans had initial reservations that the bill would be overreaching, but after talking to people involved in the tobacco industry, we realized the impact it would have on those people would be minimal,� Murray said. �The tobacco industry is already making these cigarettes, so it would not disrupt those industries.�

�Fire-safe� cigarettes have been adopted via legislation by 22 states and have been implemented in five of those states.

�In New York, the first state to implement fire-safe cigarettes, the results have been overwhelmingly positive, and no problems have been encountered,� said Nadine Gratz, a legislative analyst for Robson.

Gratz said there would be no change in the price or taste of cigarettes, and only the paper the cigarette is made of would change. Gratz also said both types of cigarettes would be available for more than a year after the passage of the bill.

�There will be an 18-month lead time for vendors to move to the fire-safe cigarettes. In that period, vendors will be able to sell both the new and old cigarettes,� she said.

The proposed bills come less than three months after a deadly fire killed UW-La Crosse student Peter Talen at 123 N. Bedford St., just off the Madison campus. The Madison Fire Department said a discarded cigarette may have started the blaze.

Ed Ruckriegel, inspector for the MFD, called the measures set forth in the proposals �the most effective means of protecting lives and property since the adoption of requirements for smoke detectors in the 1970s.�

Lori Wirth, a representative for the MFD, also lauded the emphasis on public safety.

�The benefits of the legislation are so clear, everyone [in the MFD] is in agreement with it,� Wirth said. �This was a long time coming.�