Hawaii Once Again Considering Age Increase, Park Smoking Ban

Much like last year, two bills have been introduced in the Hawaii House of Representatives that would make smoking for some much more challenging.

One deals with smoking in parks, H.B. 525. Like last year’s H.B. 325, the bill seeks to ban smoking in public parks and beaches across the state, something that has already happened at a local level across the state. Smoking is already banned on public beaches in the counties of Hawai’i, Honolulu and Maui.

On Tuesday, the bill passed a third House committee.

In addition, Hawaii is once again considering to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products in the state from 18 to 21.

That bill, H.B. 385, has already passed two House committees. Like the smoking ban issue, a similar bill was proposed last year, but failed to pass. Also, counties have tried passing similar legislation with varying degrees of success. Last year, Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, successfully raised the minimum age to 21, while a measure in Honolulu was proposed, but has not passed.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I handle the editing of our written content, the majority of the technical aspects of the site and work with the rest of our staff on content management, business development and more. I’ve lived in most corners of the country and now entering my second stint in Dallas, Texas. I enjoy boxing, headphones, the Le Mans 24-hour, wearing sweatshirts year-round and gyros. echte liebe.