Congress Set To Raise Tobacco And E-Cig Age To 21
Bipartisan legislation to raise the smoking and vaping age was folded into a year-end congressional spending bill that the president is expected to sign.
Legislation that would raise the national age limit to purchase tobacco products including e-cigarettes to 21 is likely to pass this week under a year-end congressional spending bill.
The move would bring the rest of the nation in parity with the 21-or-older law already in effect in Hawaii since 2015.
President Donald Trump聽聽for such a measure last month.
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz and a bipartisan congressional delegation including U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced a bill .
鈥淩aising the minimum smoking and vaping age to 21 will protect our kids and save lives,鈥 said Schatz in a press release Monday.
Companion legislation was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also introduced a similar bipartisan bill called the this May.
Neither bill passed, and ultimately the provision has been added to the congressional spending bill.
The provision follows growing concern about a string of vaping related illnesses and deaths that have occurred across the nation.
Hawaii has some of the highest youth-vaping rates in the nation.
