Tobacco 21 Law Signed By Illinois Governor This Week
On April 7, 2019, Governor Pritzker
signed P.A. 101-002 into law. This landmark legislation makes
Illinois the 11th state to enact what has become known as “Tobacco 21
law.” The law takes effect on July 1, 2019. This legislation is not a
novel concept to Illinois municipalities. Before its enactment, more than 30
Illinois municipalities had adopted ordinances to raise the local minimum legal
sales age to 21.
The bill amends various state statutes
regarding tobacco to raise the legal age to 21 for the purchase or sale of
tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, and alternative nicotine products. The
law also provides a formal definition for electronic cigarettes to include
electronic nicotine delivery systems, whether or not the solution contains
nicotine.
For those who may have been following the legislation from its introduction, the law remains substantively similar, but the few changes it imposes have come with sharp criticism. One criticism is that the law focuses on the sale or purchase of tobacco or alternative products by persons under 21 but not the possession of those products. That means that municipal ordinances could regulate different conduct (i.e., possession by underage persons in addition to sale and purchase) than the state law will regulate once the law becomes effective.
Because municipal ordinances may currently regulate conduct based on
the previous age minimum of 18, municipalities might consider updating their
ordinances to be consistent with state law.
Post Authored by Dan Bolin & Julie
Tappendorf
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