Between this and the idiotic proposal earlier this month to reward voters by offering to automatically enter them in a million dollar lottery simply for casting a ballot, the state is in desperate need of some real leadership. Not to mention the tire tax, increased sales tax, etc., etc. This will be just another reason for the police to stop you (like seatbelt laws, child safety seat laws). Like police have nothing better to do. What a waste of resources.
Check this out: (From Newsday)
TRENTON, N.J. -- During a recent drive, Sen. Ray Lesniak caught a glimpse of the driver in the next lane. She was puffing on a cigarette, windows rolled up, two kids in the car, enveloped in a smoke cloud so thick he could see it from his car.
The sight led Lesniak, a Union County Democrat, to propose legislation that would prohibit smoking in a car with a child under 16.
The bill dovetails with a movement nationally to limit children's exposure to secondhand smoke. It is scheduled to be introduced in the Senate on Monday.
"Many parents who are smokers have the presence of mind not to expose their children to the dangerous toxins associated with secondhand smoke," said Lesniak.
"I know that such reckless behavior is more the exception than the rule and that many parents put the health of their kids on a pedestal. But we need strong penalties, and a strong message, that endangering your kids with secondhand smoke cannot be tolerated," Lesniak said.
If approved by both houses of the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, the bill would make smoking in a car with a minor a disorderly persons offense. It would be punishable by a maximum jail term of 30 days and a $500 fine for a first offense with stiffer penalties for subsequent offenses.
Anti-smoking advocates say protecting minors from secondhand smoke is their next frontier, both because the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke are well-documented and children don't have a choice when someone lights up in a car.
"This is good news for kids who are getting sick in cars from people smoking around them," Regina Carlson, executive director of NJ GASP, or Group Against Smoking Pollution, said of the proposed law.
Besides the obvious health benefits to children, Carlson said the law would benefit vehicle passengers by lessening the number of accidents caused by smoking while driving.
Louisiana, Arkansas, Puerto Rico and Bangor, Maine, have recently enacted laws banning smoking in cars when children are present, according to Matt Barry, director of policy research for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington-based advocacy group.
* I wonder if this will exclude casino owners or anyone else who's part of the corrupt Democratic machine in NJ.
* I'm not a big avocate of smoking around kids, but they're not my kid so if the parent decide's they want to do that, let them..
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Check this out: (From Newsday)
TRENTON, N.J. -- During a recent drive, Sen. Ray Lesniak caught a glimpse of the driver in the next lane. She was puffing on a cigarette, windows rolled up, two kids in the car, enveloped in a smoke cloud so thick he could see it from his car.
The sight led Lesniak, a Union County Democrat, to propose legislation that would prohibit smoking in a car with a child under 16.
The bill dovetails with a movement nationally to limit children's exposure to secondhand smoke. It is scheduled to be introduced in the Senate on Monday.
"Many parents who are smokers have the presence of mind not to expose their children to the dangerous toxins associated with secondhand smoke," said Lesniak.
"I know that such reckless behavior is more the exception than the rule and that many parents put the health of their kids on a pedestal. But we need strong penalties, and a strong message, that endangering your kids with secondhand smoke cannot be tolerated," Lesniak said.
If approved by both houses of the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, the bill would make smoking in a car with a minor a disorderly persons offense. It would be punishable by a maximum jail term of 30 days and a $500 fine for a first offense with stiffer penalties for subsequent offenses.
Anti-smoking advocates say protecting minors from secondhand smoke is their next frontier, both because the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke are well-documented and children don't have a choice when someone lights up in a car.
"This is good news for kids who are getting sick in cars from people smoking around them," Regina Carlson, executive director of NJ GASP, or Group Against Smoking Pollution, said of the proposed law.
Besides the obvious health benefits to children, Carlson said the law would benefit vehicle passengers by lessening the number of accidents caused by smoking while driving.
Louisiana, Arkansas, Puerto Rico and Bangor, Maine, have recently enacted laws banning smoking in cars when children are present, according to Matt Barry, director of policy research for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington-based advocacy group.
* I wonder if this will exclude casino owners or anyone else who's part of the corrupt Democratic machine in NJ.
* I'm not a big avocate of smoking around kids, but they're not my kid so if the parent decide's they want to do that, let them..
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