West Virginia lawmakers push to ban smoking in cars with children

• The West Virginia state Senate handed a invoice Monday banning smoking or possessing lit tobacco merchandise inside autos the place people below 16 are current.
• If enacted, the proposal would make doing so a misdemeanor punishable by a effective of up to $25 — nonetheless, it could solely give you the option to be penalized as a secondary offense.
• The invoice, which cleared the state Senate in a 25-8 vote, now heads to the House of Delegates, the place its destiny is unclear.

Smoking in cars with children is banned in 11 states, and lawmakers are pushing to be a part of them in West Virginia, the place extra adults use cigarettes than wherever else in the nation, in accordance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state Senate on Monday handed a invoice calling for fines for anybody caught smoking or possessing a lit tobacco product in a automobile when somebody age 16 or below is current. The invoice handed on 25-8 vote and now goes to the House of Delegates, the place comparable laws has failed and it faces an unsure future.

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Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo, a doctor-turned-lawmaker, made a promise way back to a affected person whose father was a heavy smoker that he would attempt to ban smoking in autos carrying children in West Virginia. Takubo has made it virtually an annual effort since 2017 to introduce the laws, nevertheless it did not acquire traction.

West Virginia Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo, a Republican, is seen on the state Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/John Raby, File)

The Kanawha County Republican and lung physician mentioned the inspiration for the invoice was a affected person who was not a smoker however misplaced half of her lung operate. When her father smoked, “she had to climb down to the bottom of the car and put her head underneath the seat,” Takubo mentioned.

Violators would face a misdemeanor topic to a most effective of $25. But it could be a secondary offense: smoking with children current can’t be the primary cause a driver is pulled over.

Sen. Mike Azinger, a Wood County Republican, mentioned the state has no proper to infringe on dad and mom’ freedoms.

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“The arguments for the bill are essentially emotional arguments,” Azinger mentioned. “This is a cut at the fundamental rights of parents making a decision over their children in their vehicle. This is a state going where it has no business going.”