The bid to raise Utah's tobacco tax to $2 per pack was dealt a serious blow Thursday, when the bill was rerouted to a committee that its sponsor says is made up of hostile members.

Sen. Allen Christensen's bill was headed toward the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, until Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, moved to reroute it, sending it to the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.

"Now I don't have to kill it," Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, the chairman of the health committee, leaned over and said to Bramble, who is on the tax committee.

"As I count up the people that don't like that bill, they're all on Revenue and Taxation," said Christensen, R-North Ogden, who said the change is "definitely" a blow to the bill's prospects.

"It's amazing how the political process works. Sometimes it's all politics," he said.

Bramble said the taxation committee is where the cigarette tax increase should go.

"Health and Human Services deals with health programs and social programs. Revenue and taxation deals with tax policy and this is a bill that deals with tax policy," he said.

The current cigarette tax is 69.5 cents per pack. The revenue generated from the $1.30 increase would be dedicated to tobacco cessation and smoker-related health programs.

If the cigarette tax does meet its end in the committee, there is a bill in the House that could accomplish the same thing.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has endorsed raising the tax to $3 per pack, which would give Utah the highest cigarette tax in the country. He wants to use the money to eliminate the rest of the state's sales tax on groceries.