The Vermont Senate has voted down a proposal to raise the smoking age in the state to 21.
Several Democratic senators had been crafting the proposal throughout the year, but when it came up for a vote last month, there weren't enough votes to pass it and the bill was put aside.
On Tuesday, the measure was resurrected after supporters offered a number of changes designed to make it more palatable to senators. Supporters of the measure say a higher smoking age will keep tobacco out of the hands of teens and lead to vast health care savings from healthier people. Detractors say the proposal is an overreach.
In the end, the measure failed by a slightly larger margin than it did during its original vote in March.
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