[1/14/03]A local legislator wants driving privileges suspended for minors who use fake IDs to buy cigarettes or other tobacco products.

A bill introduced by Sen. Mike Chaney, R-Vicksburg, would add to the existing penalty a 30-day license suspension for a first offense and a three-month suspension for subsequent offenses.

“That will do more to stop kids from buying cigarettes than anything we’ve done,” Chaney said. He added that laws that penalize clerks who sell tobacco to minors already exist.

It is illegal for those younger than 18 who falsely say or present documents indicating that they are 18 or older to buy or possess tobacco. The misdemeanor crime currently carries a fine of $25 to $200 or at least 30 days’ community service or both.

The bill was referred Wednesday to the Senate’s Juvenile Justice Committee. Chaney said that he has introduced the bill before. In the Legislature’s previous regular session, the bill was passed in the Senate but not in the House of Representatives, he said.

The Legislature’s current regular session began Jan. 7 and is scheduled to close April 6.

A separate bill introduced by Chaney would change how citizens petition for special elections to remove elected officials.

The current law bases the number of signatures required for removal petitions on the entire qualified electorate in each county or district in question. Chaney’s bill would instead base the required percentage on the number of people who actually voted in the elections of the officers whose removal is sought.

“The reason is that the voter rolls are often not purged,” Chaney said of that part of the bill. He added that he is introducing the bill for the third or fourth regular session in a row.

Under current law, the minimum number of signatures required for removal petitions for supervisors, justice court judges and constables, 51 percent, is different from the one for countywide offices, 30 percent.

Chaney’s bill would bring those two thresholds into line with each other, setting both at 50 percent plus one.

In such special-removal elections, a simple majority of votes is needed for removal. Chaney’s bill would change the number needed to 50 percent plus two.

If an officer knowingly or willfully fails, neglects or refuses to perform any of his required duties that is cause for removal, state law says. Felony convictions result in automatic removal from office.

The bill was referred Wednesday to the Judiciary Committee.