Last week we reported on a proposal to ban smoking in a motor vehicle with those under the age of 18 in the state of New Hampshire. In Illinois bill S.B. 729 was introduced earlier this year by Senator Ira Silverstein-D.
If passed the bill would prohibit a person from operating or being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while a person in the motor vehicle is smoking if a person under 18 years of age is in the motor vehicle. Stipulates that this provision does not apply to the operator of a motorcycle or a motor vehicle with a convertible or removable roof in top-down, topless or open air mode.
The bill goes on to define “smoking” as inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, weed, plant, regulated narcotic or other combustible substance.
A hearing on this bill was held on 2/17 and 3/3, with a third hearing scheduled for 3/10/2015.
Illinois is home to 12.8 million residents over 57,914 square miles and became a state in 1818.