SC bill would ban people from smoking in cars while kids are inside

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) – The Center for Disease Control and Prevention warns there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and even short periods of exposure can be harmful to people’s health.

Some state lawmakers want to pass legislation designed to reduce the danger the youngest South Carolinians may face from these toxins.

A bipartisan group of senators is looking to ban smoking in a car when there is a child inside, a prohibition already in place in a dozen other states.

“I think the time has come for us to have a serious discussion, having South Carolina join these other states. Many of them are Southern states,” Sen. Darrell Jackson, D – Richland, said.

Jackson filed a bill Thursday that would prohibit people from smoking in a vehicle while children younger than 12 are inside.

It is similar to legislation he first filed nearly two decades ago, which passed in the state Senate, but Jackson said opposition from tobacco companies and different attitudes about smoking defeated his push before it could reach the governor’s desk.

Now he believes those attitudes have changed enough for this bill to pass in 2025.

“We have a greater appreciation, a greater knowledge of secondhand smoke and what it does to human beings, period, particularly what it does to children,” Jackson said.

Under the bill, anyone found to be in violation of the ban would face a fine of up to $100.

Data shows about one in 10 adults in South Carolina are smokers, while about one in five adults in the state are tobacco users.

“We continue to see tobacco being a problem with the cost of our state and really just like the number of children and youth who are starting to smoke and the adults who continue to smoke,” Beth Johnson with the American Cancer Society said.

The American Cancer Society applauds Jackson’s effort and said implementing even more expansive measures, like funding for tobacco prevention and control and enacting local smoke-free ordinances would have an even greater impact.

“Right now in South Carolina, there’s still only 40% of our state that’s protected under a smoke-free policy. That means that you cannot smoke in indoors — indoor workplaces, restaurants, bars,” Johnson said. “South Carolina also has some of the lowest amounts of funding programs, programs that we fund, for tobacco prevention and control, so that’s also a priority for us.”

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, smoking directly costs more than $2 billion annually in healthcare expenses in South Carolina.

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