[T]he House Human Services committee approved a bill Thursday night that would gradually raise the legal age for tobacco products from 18 to 21.
If enacted, the bill, H. 93, would raise the legal age to purchase and consume tobacco to 19 beginning in 2017, and would rise gradually until 2019, when 21 would become the law in Vermont.
All four Republicans on the committee voted against the bill. They voiced concerns that it represented an unnecessary government intrusion and would be difficult to enforce.
The final vote — seven to four — was the first party-line vote out of the Human Services committee this biennium, according to the committee chair.
“All four Republicans were engaged in the discussion, and brought up issues that we really have to pay attention to,” said Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, who chairs the committee.
Democrats said the change could bring significant healthcare savings to the state in the long run. They pointed to research that 18-year-old brains aren’t wholly developed for important decision-making.
A number of Republicans took the position that 18-year-olds are adults, and deserve the freedom to make choices, even if they aren’t healthy. They pointed out that they can serve in the military, start families and take out loans, among other responsibilities.
“I don’t know if the way to get 18-year-olds to make better decisions is to take more decisions away from them,” said Republican Rep. Paul Dame of Essex Junction, who voted against the bill.
The ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Topper McFaun, R-Barre Town, said that the age should be raised to 26 if the purpose was to wait until adolescent brains are fully developed.
“If you are going to do this, and the reason you are doing it is to cut healthcare costs and make people healthy, I think it’s logical that we go to the age that [doctors] are recommending,” McFaun said Thursday.
McFaun offered four amendments to the bill, including one setting the legal age at 26 and another exempting military members from the restrictions. All four of his amendments failed.
Democrat Chip Troiano of Hardwick, a former smoker, supported the bill. He agreed teens are not mature enough to make decisions around cigarette use and, clearly drawing on his own military experience as a helicopter door gunner in Vietnam, said the military was also damaging.
“What the military does is use that lack of maturation because accompanying this immature cortex comes with fearlessness and other qualities that the military needs and uses,” he said.
The bill comes after the House narrowly defeated a similar amendment proposed by Rep. George Till, D-Jericho, earlier this month. His smoking amendments was attached to a bill that limited the use and sale of electronic cigarettes.
The vote on the smoking amendment was 71-71. According to House rules, in the event of a tie, the vote fails.
House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morrisville, who can cast a tie vote, declined to vote on the amendment.
A number of legislators who voted against the amendment on the e-cigarette bill said they would be open to supporting a bill if it was properly vetted by the Human Services committee.
On Thursday, legislators collected testimony from a number of entities, including the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society.
Thomas Briant, Executive Director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, said the bill would not reduce teen smoking rates, as teenagers would continue to ask older friends to purchase cigarettes for them.
The bill will be reported on the floor by Rep. Michael Mrowicki, and legislators say they are confident the bill, now better vetted, will pass the House.
If approved, it will head to the Senate Rules Committee for special consideration, because passage is after the crossover date. Privately, one senator said he thought the bill would face an uphill battle because it would make little sense to make marijuana more accessible while curbing access to cigarettes.
Gov. Peter Shumlin has said he opposes the legislation.
CORRECTION: Rep. Mrowicki will report the bill, not Rep. Till, as originally reported.
