New Bill Hits Parents With A $1,000 Fine For Smoking With Kids In Car

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For ages people didn’t believe that second-hand smoke could actually hurt bystanders. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that approximately 2.5 million people have died from second-hand smoke in the United States since 1964!

Second-hand smoke can cause many illnesses, not just lung cancer — and it’s particularly terrible for kids.

Second-hand smoke can lead to asthma attacks, wheezing and coughing and it also tends to lead to inner-ear infections.

This is most likely why a number of states have passed laws imposing penalties or fines for adults smoking in vehicles with children.

According to Legal Beagle, as of December 2018, states such as Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Virginia have imposed such fines.

Indiana is another that may soon join that list. WIBC reports that Indiana state senators have introduced legislation to discourage adults from smoking in cars with children.

An initial violation would set offenders back by $1,000, as would a second. If they got caught a third time, the fine could be up to $10,000.

However, the Bill sponsor Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt has noted that enforcing the law would prove difficult but he hopes that the measure would drive home the point that adults need to put kids’ health first and foremost.

“I want to say to mom and dad (that) this is not right,” he stated. “Smoking is a danger to yourself as well as others, and to be riding along in a car and getting second-hand smoke is just not acceptable for anyone but more so for children who just don’t have a choice.”

This proposed law only applies to the state of Indiana however Snopes has reported that memes have circulated saying that the restriction will apply to the whole country.