AUSTIN—A statewide ban on smoking in public places in Texas, including bars and restaurants, is moving closer to a Senate vote.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved the ban on a 5-3 vote Monday, sending it to the full Senate for consideration. The panel made a few key changes, exempting cigar bars and outdoor patios at restaurants and bars. It also excludes nursing homes.

Supporters, including the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the American Cancer Society, say a ban is needed to protect public health from secondhand smoke. Opponents call it an infringement on civil liberties and property rights.

According to the Smoke-Free Texas coalition, secondhand smoke kills 53,000 nonsmoking Americans every year and is a known cause of lung cancer, heart disease, low birth weight and chronic lung ailments.

Two dozen states have already enacted some smoke-free laws and about 14 others are considering them, the coalition says. Dozens of Texas cities already have local ordinances limiting smoking in public, but several efforts at a statewide crackdown have failed in recent years.

Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, and chair of the Senate committee, had been accused of stalling a vote on the measure. She scheduled Monday’s vote and joined the panel’s four Democrats to support it.

The House is also considering a smoking ban that supporters say is too weak to have much of an impact. The House version carves out many exemptions, including entire counties. It passed a key committee vote last week and is awaiting action by the full House before the end of the session June 1.

Smoking ban supporters say they hope to get the Senate version passed and sent to Gov. Rick Perry. Any smoking ban is sure to face a tough road in the House, where a watered-down smoking ban passed in 2007. That bill never got a vote in the final days of the session.