Is PA Next? NJ Legislators Vote To Raise State Smoking Age To 21

By DANIEL HUBBARD and JUSTIN HEINZE

New Jersey State legislators voted Monday to raise the smoking age from 19 to 21 years old.

A bill making the change passed both legislative houses.

The smoking age in Pennsylvania is currently 18.

There is no pending legislation in the Keystone State that would change this.

Governor Christie still has to sign the legislation before it becomes law. If signed, it would go into effect May 1.

In addition to cigarettes and electronic smoking devices, the legislation also prohibits those 20 and younger from using cigars, cigarillos, and pipes.

Also, any person who gives someone younger than 21 a cigarette or tobacco product would receive a petty disorderly persons offense.

Retailers who sell to underage users would face penalties up to $250 for the first violation, $500 for a second, and $1,000 for each subsequent citation.

The state is expected to lose approximately $5.8 million in tobacco taxes annually if Christie approves the change. Such losses would gradually decline over time, according to the legislation, due to declining cigarette sales.

Some Bergen County towns have already raised the smoking age to 21. Wyckoff did it last year and Englewood was the first New Jersey town to do it back in 2014.

A similar bill, which Bergen Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle co-sponsored, was introduced last year. The approved bill substituted that legislation.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons