Lawmakers unveil bill to raise age to buy cigarettes to 21

Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who authored one of the bills. Supporters have said that more than 120 cities in America as well as the state of Hawaii have made 21 the minimum age to buy tobacco products.

Democratic Sen. Jason Lewis, of Winchester, the Senate chair of the public health panel, said any loss in tobacco tax revenue from passage of the bill would be offset by health care savings resulting from fewer smoking-related illnesses.

Supervisor Scott Wiener, chief sponsor of the legislation, said raising the age will discourage young people from turning into lifelong smokers. Meanwhile, Santa Clara continues to enforce its age limit of 21.

Opponents argue that California law sets a minimum age of 18 and that provision prohibits municipalities from setting a higher limit.

“Adolescent brains are uniquely vulnerable to the effects of nicotine and nicotine addiction, ” said Wood, and “18-year-olds are much more likely to buy tobacco products for their 14-, 15-, 16-year-old friends.”. “It will save thousands of lives”.

“I don’t smoke. I don’t encourage my children to”, said Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine.

“There have been claims by some public health researchers that e-cigarettes undermine quitting if smokers use them just to cut down, and that they act as a gateway into smoking”.

Ambassadors for all 28 EU member states have quietly told the European Commission to come up with plans by the end of next year to reclassify e-cigarettes as regular tobacco products for tax purposes.

The other parts of the package approved Thursday would regulate electronic cigarettes and make other efforts to restrict access to tobacco, including imposing new restrictions on workplace smoking, allowing counties to raise tobacco taxes and expanding tobacco bans to more schools. Counties would be able to raise their own cigarette taxes beyond the state’s levy of $0.87 per pack. A spokesperson for the governor declined to comment.