Teen smokers will still be able to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products in Illinois. Lawmakers failed to get the votes to push the legal age to purchase those products to 21.

But the bill was crafted in such a way to only prohibit the sale of products to individuals under 21, not possession. Bill sponsors didn’t want the new law to adversely impact newly underage smokers with burdensome fines.

Senator John Mulroe, a Chicago Democrat, says the bill was a way to keep more teenagers from smoking.

Senator Dan McConchie, a Lake Zurich Republican, thinks this is a step too far in governmental control of personal decisions.

The votes to support the bill weren’t there, so it was pulled and put on hold. Paving a path towards it possibily coming around for another vote.