Should states punish parents for smoking with children in the car? Twelve states do, and West Virginia is the latest state to pass legislation to discourage adults from smoking around kids.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo is a pulmonologist, and his experience treating lung disease inspired him to introduce the bill, which Governor Jim Justice just signed into law.
West Virginia has the highest rate of smokers in the country, with nearly a quarter of the population lighting up.
The fine is relatively light. If you’re pulled over and caught smoking with a child present, you can be fined $25. Officers cannot pull you over just for smoking.
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia also ban smoking in cars with kids present, as do Guam, the Northern Mariana Island, and Puerto Rico.
In Ohio, Senate Bill 89 sought to prohibit smoking if a child under 6 years old is in the car. The Bill has languished in committee since 2015.
