Guzman targets Virginia smokers with children in cars

By Rodney Robinson & Kal Weinstein
Capital News Service

RICHMOND — Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-31 Fauquier, Prince William) filed legislation last week that would increase the age Virginians could smoke or use nicotine products with minors in motor vehicles. The proposed bill would raise the current age from eight to 16 years old.

“As a mother, it was of great surprise to me to learn that children over the age of eight can be exposed to second-hand smoke in vehicles,” Guzman said in a press. “Virginia needs to update its code to reflect the evidence-based results of medical studies.”

The press release references a study conducted by the Virginia Department of Health, which found 25 percent of high school students in Virginia report smoking being allowed in the vehicle they ride in most frequently. According to the American Lung Association, secondhand smoke is the cause of more than 41,000 deaths per year, and about 37 percent of children in the U.S have been exposed.

The Virginia Code does not have any regulations currently in place to protect minors from nicotine vapor that is emitted through the use of electronic cigarettes.

“Children under the age of 16 should also be protected from the smoke originated from vaping,” Guzman said. “It is so popular right now in high schools.”

House Bill 2091 is the most recent of several attempts by the General Assembly to raise the age requirement listed in Virginia Code § 46.2-810.1 since 2015. Legislators like Guzman see this as a failure to protect minors over the age of eight and does not account for the rising popularity of e-cigarettes.

As a social worker and a mother of four, protecting children is the number one priority for Guzman. She believes that at the age of 16, a teenager can speak up or remove themselves from a car where the driver or passengers are smoking. However, at the age of 8, children do not have that type of power.

In Kansas, the legal age for smoking with minors in the vehicles are 14 years old and in Louisiana, the legal age is 13. Other states in the U.S. have begun to consider and implement this rule, and Guzman encourages that Virginia reconsiders this law as well.

“In Kansas for example in 2011, 27% of adults say that they were smoking,” Guzman said. “In 2016, after this law passed the amount of adults smoking reduced to 23%.”

Guzman believes that this house bill has a great chance of being passed. Subcommittee #1 has already voted and passed the bill onto its next stage, where it will be voted on by another delegate committee. If the bill is eventually passed, Virginia residents are subject to a $100 fine if they are caught smoking in a car, whether in motion or at rest, with a minor under the age of 16 present.

“For those [Virginia residents] who smoke, they need to understand that second-hand smoke is the most dangerous part,” Guzman said. “And it is not fair that children are voiceless, that they cannot do anything to protect themselves…And I am here to protect them.”

For more information on the bill and how it can potentially impact the state, visit lis.virginia.gov.