City Council introduces bill to ban smoking in cars if minors are present

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A new bill introduced by two Honolulu City Councilmen takes aim at smoking in vehicles while a minor is present.

Bill 70 calls to outlaw smoking traditional and electronic cigarettes in a motor vehicle if a person under the age of 18 is a passenger.

Council Chair Ron Menor and Councilman Brandon Elefante co-introduced the bill Wednesday.

The measure is intended to reduce the health risk children face when exposed to secondhand smoke.

"We're really concerned for the sake of the keiki who do not have an option as to how they get about," State Department of Health Healthy Hawaii Initiative Administrator Lola Irvin said.

Secondhand smoke, in the compact space of a vehicle, has been found to increase hazardous air quality conditions up to 10 times the limit designated by the Environmental Protection Agency, Elefante said.

Hawaii County and Kauai County have similar laws in place.

Smoking with a minor in a vehicle has been outlawed on Hawaii Island since 2010. On Kauai, smoking with anyone under the age of 13 was outlawed in July 2016.

Nine other states or territories across the U.S. also have similar restrictions.

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