Ore. state senator calls smoking with kids bill 'nonsense'
ROSEBURG, Ore. -- The state senate has proposed a measure that would make it a traffic violation to smoke in a car with a minor.
One Oregon lawmaker from Roseburg thinks the bill is nonsense.
Senator Jeff Kruse of Douglas County says he was the only one to oppose the measure in the judiciary committee.
He says he already tried getting an amendment to the bill, and his ideas were all rejected, he told KPIC News. "There's a lot of people in Salem who know better than we do and think they can do a better job at running our lives than we do," he quipped.
Senate Bill 444 is currently being reviewed in the house health care committee.
If the bill passes, people smoking in cars with people under 18-years-old can expect a fine if they are found to be in violation at a traffic stop.
It's proposed to be $250 for the first offense, $500 for the second and $1,000 for the third.
I grew up with a smoker, he smoked in the car, while I was sitting on his lap, wherever and whenever. I didn't know anything else. Did it bother me? nope. did I know better, not really back then. But, I got to play in the back of the station wagon without a car seat or seat belt. I even rode a bike without a helmet. Now that the health hazards are all over the place about smoking, most people with a brain or some semblance of common sense will not smoke with their kids or grand children, or any child in the car or any enclosed area. But why do we have to have yet ANOTHER LAW against it. We are getting so many laws for common sense things, its beginning to feel like we are under a dictatorship. Just my feelings. No, not a smoker.
This senator should have grown up like I did, with parents and relatives smoking their heads off while we tried to breathe as little as possible in their cars.