Smoking Age Going Up In PA

HARRISBURG, PA —A bill that raises Pennsylvania's legal smoking age passed the state House and the Senate this week, and the governor intends to sign it.

The bill, which raises the minimum age to buy tobacco and vaping products to 21, passed Thursday in both the House and Senate. Gov. Tom Wolf will sign it, spokesman J.J. Abbott said.

The current age to purchase tobacco and vaping products in Pennsylvania is 18.

Once the governor signs the bill into law, the changes will be effective July 1.

The bill includes language that would still permit members of the military to purchase tobacco products at 18.

Once the bill becomes law, it will be a summary offense for anyone under 21 to purchase any tobacco product, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars and pipe tobacco.

"As the availability and appeal of e-cigarettes has increased in particular, the rates of high school-age children vaping has increased 40 percent in just one year. Twenty-four percent of Pennsylvania high school teens use e-cigarettes, driving up overall youth smoking rates to over 32 percent,” bill sponsor Republican Sen. Mario Scavello said. “It’s clear that we have to act.”

Cigarette smoking causes 22,000 deaths each year in Pennsylvania, Scavello said. Each year, more than $6 billion in health care costs are directly caused by smoking, he added.

“This change will save lives and reduce health care costs,” Scavello said. “I speak as the son of a lifelong smoker who lost his father to lung cancer, so this legislation hits particularly close to home.”