The "New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act" will ban smoking on all NJ beaches.

A ban was already in place for NJ's state beaches and within state-owned parks under a bill signed by former Governor Chris Christie, and a few towns have been enforcing their own bans.

Now, as Governor Murphy signs the bill into law, people caught smoking on the beach will face a $250 fine for the first offense, $500 for the second offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense.

smoking at the beach
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Jeff Tittel, director of the NJ Sierra Club, said

Cigarettes are a major source of litter and pollution, while also being a threat to public safety. A complete ban will not only benefit public health but our environment. We are spending all this money rebuilding our beaches and now we should not turn them into ashtrays."

Clean Ocean Action, which collects litter along the Atlantic coast, reported finding 29,000 cigarette butts, 1,155 lighters and 1,870 cigarette packages in 2017.

I am fully in support of this. While normally I believe that the government should stay out of our personal lives, I loathe smoking, and the more places I can go where I don't have to deal with the smell, the happier I am.

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