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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

What do you think of this proposed law?

Here is a bill that would take take away the Indiana driver's license of any minor that was caught smoking.

DIGEST OF INTRODUCED BILL
Driver's license suspension for minors who smoke. Permits a court to order a: (1) one year suspension of a driver's license of; or (2) a six month delay in the issuance of a driver's license to; a minor who violates tobacco laws.


Authored by Senator(s) Boots

Hmmm. Is this a good idea or not?

If you have an opinion - just put your zip code in the blue box labeled "Write your legislators." Enter your address and your legislator's email address will come up. You can let your representatives know what you think.

Here is a list of all proposed legislation. Scroll through them and see what your legislators are up to!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not that I do not think it is a great idea for legislators to attempt to keep tobacco products out of children's hands; I just think this is the wrong approach.

My initial reaction is "Great, just what we need. Another well-intended law that reality in the actual enforcement."

Our courts are already too slow at getting the accused to trial. They need to author laws that have stronger penalties for those that supply minors with tobacco.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but in the previous post I meant to say: "Great, just what we need. Another well-intended law that has no reality in the actual enforcement."

Anonymous said...

The previous poster is correct. Sixteen-year olds who receive their driver's license are not to carry any passengers without and adult in the car with them. How often has that rule been broken without any penalty? Some rules are just not worth passing because they are too difficult to enforce.

Anonymous said...

What we need is a law to teach parents to be parents, not another law like this again. How about if your kid gets caught doing something wrong, you go to parenting class like they make you go to jury duty? Betcha that would make parents keep a better eye on their kids!

Anonymous said...

I recently read and article about your efforts on the blog in the IndyStar. I commend you on taking advantage of this free resource to communicate and educate your community on what's happening in the schools. I've been active lately with my own blogs that were setup to try and make sense of the situation going on in Perry Township in Indianapolis. If you ever need assistance with anything, don't hesitate to contact me.

Anonymous said...

Wow! A (possibly) mandatory parenting class! What a great idea! They could be referred/required to attend by the courts OR... maybe schools from a committee of administrators, teachers, and parents that review student cases of continual misbehavior or severe infractions. You can't tell me that wouldn't have the potential to "light the fire" under some parents' hind end!

Perhaps parents would even see the committee as an opportunity to influence school "culture/climate" and therefore cause some more buy-in with the procedures of the school.

I don't know. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

I think that if my parents had to take a parenting class, then it would be hard for them to genuinely be parents. All they would have to do is sigh and say, "I'm not sure I'm cut out for this" and it would probably give me the feeling that they were forced by law to love me. Even though I know consciously that is not why love exists and that no law can ever actually create love for someone and maintain it, but I would still always silently wonder.

With this thought, you have to ask yourselves as parents with what you have witnessed the world turn into so far in your lifespan, what do think this will do to the future children to come? Those children will already be born into a world that will tell them that it is okay to kill an unborn baby if you *choose* to... why add on to that false confidence with a law that will give parents yet another reason to make them not want to be parents?

I agree that smoking before age 18 is wrong because the law says so. I actually don't approve of smoking at all; I think it is a very harmful habit for the user and those around the user, but there has been no successful law to ban smoking everywhere. What I have left to say is that taking away the license of a minor caught smoking is just another idea with a good intention... but how often have those kinds of ideas actually worked out?

Anonymous said...

Do you realy think that the kids that break the law by smoking will realy care if they can drive leagaly. They would do it anyways, just like smoking. As for parenting classes that won`t work either. In kos. county when you get a divorce they make you go to classes on how not to tear down your ex-spouce in front of the kids. Did that happen? NO. More parents scream mean things to their children about the ex than ever.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only person who realizes that a law forcing parents do do more than what is considered neglect(ie giving food, shelter, clothing, and a (semi)safe home enviroment) would be fought on every level by most parenting groups and would never get through committee? The simple fact is that in America one has many freedoms, and one of those is to raise your children in anyway you see fit(as long as you do not endanger them). The idea of mandatory parenting classes is absurd.

And on the idea of yet another under-age smoking law, I say good luck. I'll be surprised if it passes, and even more so if it is ever enforced. No anti-smoking law of recent years(other than taxes on tabacco) have really been enforced. When I was around sixteen I didn't smoke but my friends did, and I was the only one of us who could pass for 18+ so I used to buy cigarettes for my friends all the time. I was never once carded and no gas station I ever went to was ever swarmed by police once I bought the cigarettes from them. I say just give it up and lower the legal age of buying cigarettes to sixteen. Then the allure of doing something thats "against-the-rules" would go right out the window and fewer kids would start lighting up.

Anonymous said...

I think that that is the dumbest thing ive ever heard.