Illinois House Approves Raises Minimum Tobacco Purchasing Age to 21

Last year the Illinois General Assembly approved a measure that would have raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco in the state from 18 to 21 only to see it vetoed by then-Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Now, the Illinois House has passed H.B. 0345 by a vote of 82-31. The bill will raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21. A similar measure in the Senate already has 13 co-sponsors, it would need 30 votes to pass. Last session the Senate voted to override Rauner’s veto, but the House did not meaning his veto stood.

Most notably though, Illinois has a new governor, J.B. Pritzker.

Six states have already approved measures to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21, as has Cook County, which includes Chicago.

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 have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.