New Illinois law makes flicking cigarette butts a felony, punishable with jail time

[Serpo]

New Illinois law makes flicking cigarette butts a felony, punishable with jail time http://a2.typepad.com/6a00e54ee06170883401901f0b397a970b-75wi (http://featherfiles.aviary.com/2013-08-27/f77694d11/7898a7bef5654e37bdc648ebf98f947e_hires.png)CHICAGO - Starting next year, Illinois law enforcement will not only be ticketing you for failure to wear a seatbelt or illegal use of a cell phone while driving, they'll also be stopping motorists who flick cigarette butts out their windows.
With former Democrat State Rep. Deb Mell's bill HB 3243 (http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=3243&GAID=12&GA=98&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=75102&SessionID=85) now law, flicking butts will cost you. A first time conviction is a class B misdemeanor with a fine not exceeding $1,500. A second conviction is a class A misdemeanor with a fine not exceeding $1,500.
Third or subsequent convictions will be a class 4 felony, punishable by a fine of $25,000 and imprisonment not less than one year and not more than three years.
Follow up story: "Butt flicking ban could end up costing Illinois taxpayers" (http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2013/08/butt-flicking-ban-could-end-up-costing-illinois-taxpayers.html)


http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2013/08/get-ready-to-stop-flicking-that-butt.html

[Horn]

I remember being told by a chubby mafioso type Italian guy in the eighties when traveling into N.Y.C. to not flick your cigarettes out of the car window.

I think the statement came from the seventies when car insurance wasn't really all pervasive yet, and people sometimes used their car as a battering ram.

Ahh the good old days of a civilian police force, I miss things that were never available to me. :)

[Twisted Titan]

The more corrupt the state...the more numerous the laws.

Tacitus

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

All they did was add cigarettes to the list of litter. Litter three times in IL and get slapped with a felony or jail time if you have a real asshole judge.


"Litter" may include, but is not limited to, any garbage, trash, refuse, debris, rubbish, cigarettes, grass clippings or other lawn or garden waste, newspaper, magazines, glass, metal, plastic or paper containers or other packaging construction material, abandoned vehicle (as defined in the Illinois Vehicle Code), motor vehicle parts, furniture, oil, carcass of a dead animal, any nauseous or offensive matter of any kind, any object likely to injure any person or create a traffic hazard, potentially infectious medical waste as defined in Section 3.360 of the Environmental Protection Act, or anything else of an unsightly or unsanitary nature, which has been discarded, abandoned or otherwise disposed of improperly.

[VX1]

You know, I despise the government and laws for everything, but this kind of falls under “if you’re going to act like children, then we’ll have to treat you like children”. Responsibility goes hand in hand with freedom, so these people don’t want to be free. How was this ever not littering? Actually worse, when a fireball hits your windshield from the jackass in front of you. What gives them the right to daily throw cigarette butts or anything purposely with disregard out the window with no repercussions? I’ve driven through cities like Atlanta, where it looks like it’s snowing cigarette butts, because the interstate walls keep them contained, yet that doesn’t stop the habit.

[ximmy]

I hate people who litter, but ...

[Celtic Rogue]

You know, I despise the government and laws for everything, but this kind of falls under “if you’re going to act like children, then we’ll have to treat you like children”. Responsibility goes hand in hand with freedom, so these people don’t want to be free. How was this ever not littering? Actually worse, when a fireball hits your windshield from the jackass in front of you. What gives them the right to daily throw cigarette butts or anything purposely with disregard out the window with no repercussions? I’ve driven through cities like Atlanta, where it looks like it’s snowing cigarette butts, because the interstate walls keep them contained, yet that doesn’t stop the habit.


I totally agree... People who smoke should manage their own habits and keep their waste products of their habits to themselves. Next time you stop for a red light... Take a look down at the curb and you will see scores of butts littering the ground.

Its freeken nasty in my opinion and needs to be stopped. While I believe that its your right to smoke .... Its not anyone's right to foul our closed system environment with this useless toxic trash! I also think the punishment is a bit draconian...but its a way to put the spotlight on this habit that is making our planet an ashtray! I am hoping people just dont understand what a mess all the butts are making and maybe this will make them think twice before littering. If you dont smoke and you visit the beach. You will smell the old cigarettes from people using the beach as an ashtray.

Cigarette Butts are made of plastic. They will eventually degrade, especially if the environment is right for that sort of thing (moist, warm, and shady) but they will take much longer to degrade if flicked away on a beach or some other sandy, dry, hot area. Like ten Years!

The nicotine contained in 200 leftover cigarette butts, however, is enough to kill a full-sized human being (according to the admittedly biased http://www.whyquit.com/), and can have a negative impact on the wildlife in the area.

This alone compels me to want this littering of the butts to stop!

[Hillbilly]

You are all missing the bigger picture that Illinois and other states are doing with these laws. It basically means: you flip a cig or something else totally minor and you loose your right to own a FIREARM!! Think of it that way and you will see what they are really doing. California is already way ahead of the game on that one.

[Celtic Rogue]

I agree and that is why I stated that the fines were draconian. Also with Obummercare they can declare you inable to own firearms for any made up mental disease ... such as being a vet or a single parent. Still littering is like shitting in our beds. We have a closed system environment.

[Horn]

You are all missing the bigger picture that Illinois and other states are doing with these laws. It basically means: you flip a cig or something else totally minor and you loose your right to own a FIREARM!! Think of it that way and you will see what they are really doing. California is already way ahead of the game on that one.

Right, now all smokers will be listed as enemy combatants just by a quick glance from a pig at the ashtray.