A bill proposing to raise the legal age for vaping in Louisiana from 18 to 21 cleared its last hurdle in the Louisiana Legislature. The House gave final passage to House Bill 473 authored by state Rep. Buddy Mincey by a vote of 91-0.
The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. John Bel Edwards. It is unclear if Edwards will sign the bill into law or veto it, according to The Advertiser.
Mincey said he was asked by a high school administrator to bring the bill because of rampant vaping on the Denham Springs High School campus. “I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do it because a similar bill got killed in the House two years ago, but then I saw a survey showing kids are vaping 100 times a day,” Mincey said in an interview with USA Today Network. “The results made it really obvious we needed to do something.”
Mincey said all but 17 states have already raised the age to 21 to comply with federal law. The bill makes it illegal for people younger than 21 to buy or use the products. “Vaping has become so prevalent among young people; my concern is on the long-term health impacts,” Mincey said. “It’s clear what smoking does to your health, but we don’t know all of the long-term impacts of vaping.”