While the state legislature continues to debate raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21-years-old, a pair of Minneapolis suburbs approved their own increases this week..
On Monday night, both the Lakeville City Council and the Hastings City Council approved their own ordinances to raise the minimum age, giving the state 67 municipalities that have joined the Tobacco 21 movement. Both cities are now in compliance with the federal age increase signed into law in late December, and will allow local law enforcement to enforce the age change.
Both changes will go into effect in the coming days as per the requirements of each city’s laws as it pertains to publishing the change in the law.
Hastings is home to approximately 22,700 residents and is located in the southeastern part of the state, 30 miles southeast of the Minneapollis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Lakeville is located 25 miles south of Minneapolis and is home to approximately 64,000 residents.