NORMAL, Ill. – State Senator Julie Morrison presented a bill amendment to ban e-cigarettes from public places and it has garnered support from both sides of the aisle, as it passed the state Senate in a 48-5 vote with 6 no votes.
Senator Morrison spoke on the need for this ban across the state.
“A tobacco epidemic continues in our state,” said Senator Morrison. “We have made great progress, but the surge of use of e-cigarettes has threatened that progress and lured more people toward a deadly addiction.”
The Smoke Free Illinois Act is the original bill which this amendment will be added to. The bill prohibits smoking in public and within 15 feet of entrances with the original bill being passed in 2008.
“By including e-cigarettes and vaping in the Illinois comprehensive smoke-free law, the state is taking an important step to keeping our workplaces free from the toxins and carcinogens in secondhand smoke,” said President and CEO of the Respirator Health Association, Joel Africk.
Since entering Congress, Senator Morrison has passed laws with the goal of changing access to smoking products. Senator Morrison previously passed law that increases the age to legally purchase tobacco from 18 to 21, and passed a measure to place a number of restrictions on marketing e-cigarettes to children.
This bill now heads to the House of State Representatives for deliberations.