Push to raise smoking age

A bill moving through the state Legislature would raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 21.

Senate Bill 151, authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa), cleared the Senate with bipartisan support on June 2, according to The Sacramento Bee. If it's approved by the Assembly, California and Hawaii would become the first states in the country to raise the age for legally purchasing tobacco (a similar bill currently awaits the signature of Hawaii Gov. David Ige).

Hernandez said SB 151's intent is to prevent teenagers from picking up the habit. According to the American Lung Association, about 90 percent of smokers start before age 18 and 36,000 kids in California start smoking every year.

“Cigarettes are the single most dangerous consumer product ever sold,” Hernandez said. “It's time to stop allowing tobacco companies to make their deadly product so readily available to our youth.”