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Swanson talks legislation ahead of veto session

State lawmakers are back in Springfield on Tuesday, November 13th for the fall veto session. State Representative Dan Swanson co-sponsored Senate Bill 2332 which raises the minimum age to buy tobacco or electronic cigarettes to 21. What the Bill does is takes penalties away from those in possession of cigarettes which Swanson says has become a common theme. “What it does, it puts the penalty on the business who sells them but if someone buys them and gives them to that individual (who is) under the age of 18 and they’re caught with them, there’s no penalty or anything,” Swanson said. “It takes penalties away. It doesn’t impose any restrictions on those in possession of cigarettes.” Right now the penalty of possession of cigarettes by someone under 18 is 15 hours of community service or a $25 fine for a first offense, 25 hours of community service or a $50 fine for a second offense, and 30 hours of community service or a $100 fine for a third. Swanson said he feels that “having a penalty is probably more abrupt than not having anything.” Lake County was the first in Illinois in impose a 21-and-over ordinance for purchasing tobacco. Washington, Illinois was the first municipality in central Illinois to pass the ordinance in April of this year.

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