Would You Support A Smoking Ban In Lansdale?

BY TOM DAVIS AND JUSTIN HEINZE

Is Pennsylvania next?

It’s becoming more likely that New Jersey smokers eventually won’t be able to light up in vehicles with children who are 16 years old or younger.

The Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens committee passed the measure - a proposal that has failed to gain support in several prior attempts - in an 8-0 vote Monday.

Pennsylvania already has a “Clean Air Indoor Act,” passed in 2008, which prohibits smoking in public places. The law’s exceptions include private residences, but lawmakers could argue that a car, especially with windows rolled down, is a public place.

Schools in Norristown were working to keep cigarettes and even cigarette advertisements away from children as early as 1910, Philly.com reported.

There was no information as to when the New Jersey measure could be scheduled for a full Senate vote. Sen. Robert Gordon abstained from the vote after he cited concerns about a driver’s right of privacy.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, the chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, recently introduced the bill that, if passed, would impose a $100 fine on anybody caught smoking in a car with a child, according to the proposed legislation.

The bill, S2883, which is also sponsored by Assemblyman Charles Mainor D-Hudson, would apply only to drivers suspected of committing a moving violation, according to the legislation.

Vitale said he expects some smokers may get upset and call this a government intrusion, saying: “They will argue my car is no different than my home, but cars are different, I think,” according to nj.com.

State legislation to ban the practice in New Jersey was first proposed in 2007 and has resurfaced several times, but has failed to gain support, according to the report.