Tobacco regulations by state
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Last updated January 6, 2022 The tobacco age restriction across the country is 21 as a matter of federal law. Thirty-eight states also have laws in place setting the tobacco age restriction to 21. Nineteen of those states set the tobacco age restriction to 21 before the federal law took effect, while the other 19 did so after the federal law took effect.
Tobacco age restrictions can take the form of limits on the sale of tobacco by age, limits on tobacco possession by age, or a combination of the two. The first law in the United States regulating the sale of tobacco by age was passed in New Jersey in 1883 and set a minimum age of 16. By 1920, 46 states had implemented an age limit for tobacco sales, of which 14 set the limit at 21. During the 1920s and 1930s, state laws trended towards a limit of 18 years. All states with a minimum tobacco age of 21 decreased the limit.[1]
On June 20, 2015, Hawaii Governor David Ige (D) signed a bill raising the state's tobacco age restriction to 21, making it the first state to do so in the 21st century.[2] After June 2015, eighteen other states raised their tobacco age restriction to 21. Eight states increased their restrictions under a Democratic trifecta, four increased their restrictions under a Republican trifecta, and seven increased their restrictions under divided government. Ten Democratic governors and eight Republican governors signed increases in tobacco age restrictions during this time.[3]
On May 20, 2019, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) introduced a bill which would increase the tobacco age restriction to 21 at the federal level.[4] On December 20, 2019, President Donald Trump (R) signed H.R. 1865 into law.[5][6] Over 54% of the country's population lived in states that had signed legislation setting 21 as the tobacco restriction age at the time the federal law set the nationwide tobacco age restriction.
Tobacco age restriction timeline
The following map displays the year when each state implemented an increase in the tobacco age restriction to 21 (as opposed to the year when those restrictions took effect).
This table indicates the year when each state signed legislation raising their tobacco age restriction to 21 as well as the year that restriction became effective. States that did not sign legislation had their age restriction raised to 21 by federal law in December 2019. Some of those states later passed a state law raising the state-level tobacco age restriction to 21.
| State | Legislation signed | Age restriction set at 21 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Unique instances
Alabama
Alabama's tobacco age restriction had been above 18 since at least the 1960s. The state lowered the age of majority, which also served as a tobacco age restriction at the time, from 21 to 19 in 1976.[7][8] The tobacco age restriction remained at 19 until federal law raised it to 21 in December 2019.
Alaska
Alaska increased its tobacco age restriction from 16 to 19 in 1988.[9][10] The tobacco age restriction remained at 19 until federal law raised it to 21 in December 2019.
Pennsylvania
Under a law signed by Gov. Tom Wolf (D) on November 27, 2019, Pennsylvania's tobacco age restriction was set to increase from 18 to 21 on July 1, 2020.[11] However, the state's tobacco age restriction was raised to 21 in December 2019 by federal law.
Utah
It has been more than a century since Utah's tobacco age restriction was last 18. It was increased from 18 to 21 in 1911. It was then decreased from 21 to 19 in 1963.[12] Under a law signed by Gov. Gary Herbert (R) in March 2019, Utah's tobacco age restriction was set to increase from 19 to 20 on July 1, 2020, and to 21 on July 1, 2021.[13] However, the state's tobacco age restriction was raised to 21 in December 2019 by federal law.
Washington
Under a law signed by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on April 5, 2019, Washington's tobacco age restriction was set to increase from 18 to 21 on January 1, 2020.[14] However, the state's tobacco age restriction was raised to 21 in December 2019 by federal law.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ TIME, "California Is Raising Its Tobacco-Buying Age to 21. That's Not Actually So High," June 8, 2016
- ↑ Reuters, "Hawaii becomes first U.S. state to raise smoking age to 21," June 20, 2015
- ↑ One state (Maine) passed a tobacco age restriction over a gubernatorial veto.
- ↑ Politico, "McConnell and Kaine unveil bill to raise tobacco age to 21," May 20, 2019
- ↑ ABC News, "Trump administration raises legal age to buy tobacco in US to 21," December 20, 2019
- ↑ GovTrack, "H.R. 1865: Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020," accessed December 23, 2019
- ↑ Alabama Political Reporter, "House votes to lower age of majority to 18," February 24, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "al.com," February 26, 2019
- ↑ National Institutes of Health, "Smoking and Health, a National Status Report," accessed May 31, 2019
- ↑ Alaska State Legislature, "Alaska Statutes 2018 AS 11.76.100," accessed May 31, 2019
- ↑ PennLive, "Pa. raises minimum age to buy tobacco to 21, starting July 1," November 27, 2019
- ↑ The Salt Lake Tribune, "Lehi becomes first Utah city to raise legal tobacco age to 21. It may not be the last.," February 13, 2019
- ↑ Deseret News, "Utah becomes 8th state to raise smoking age to 21," March 30, 2019
- ↑ KING 5, "Washington state raises smoking age to 21," April 5, 2019
