State Rep. Jason Isaac said he plans on filing a bill in the upcoming 84th Legislature proposing a ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes and similar products to minors.

The representative from Dripping Springs told Community Impact Newspaper on June 20 that he received draft language from the Kyle Area Youth Advisory Council, or KAYAC, the student-run organization that provides policy advice to the Kyle City Council and led recent efforts to pass an ordinance in the city banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.

Isaac is especially concerned about the use of the devices in schools and not only that they contain nicotine but sometimes controlled substances, such as the active ingredient in marijuana, THC.

"This is just a device that will allow [minors] to use drugs that are either regulated or currently illegal," Isaac said. "To me, [barring children from buying or possessing them] makes complete common sense."

Isaac, whose district covers Blanco and Hays counties, said he was shocked to learn that the sale of e-cigarettes to children 17 and younger was not already illegal. He said he believes the general population is also not aware that minors can be sold e-cigarettes.

Recently, the representative has heard from constituents with children in local schools who notice students vaping e-cigarettes on campus.

"[Parents] are just appalled and disgusted by it—that the school district would allow that to happen and that it would be legal in the first place," he said.

Not only have parents taken notice, so have high school students in the KAYAC.

Nik Fisher, the group's liaison to the City Council, said the issue was brought up at a KAYAC meeting last year, and research began on whether it was covered by the law.

"It turns out, there is no legislation on it," Fisher said. "Any 12-year-old can walk into a gas station and buy these things that were originally intended to help smokers stop smoking. We decided to take it upon ourselves to attempt to stop people that wouldn't be able to smoke anyways from smoking these things that are filled with the same stuff that's in antifreeze and nicotine."

Isaac said after a phone call from Kyle Mayor Lucy Johnson, he met with the student group and discussed the possibility of filing legislation similar to the Kyle ordinance, which passed unanimously on June 3.

The next step, which Isaac said would take place in the fall, entails handing off the draft language to the Texas Legislative Council, which provides assistance in the drafting of bills.

Public smoking has been a priority for the state representative since he stepped into office, Isaac said.

As a former server in a time when smoking sections were common at most restaurants, Isaac said he was subjected to poor health conditions and wanted to do something to prevent others from being harmed by second-hand smoke.

He has sponsored legislation in both the 2009 and 2011 legislative sessions to ban smoking in public places but was unsuccessful.

But some of the most vocal opponents of those measures ardently support Isaac's aim to file a bill prohibiting the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, he said.

With his constituents widely calling for the bill, Isaac said he would not be surprised if other lawmakers are hearing the same concerns and have plans to file similar legislation—in which case, he said he would be willing to give a more senior lawmaker the honors so long as it gives the bill legs.

"My thought process is, let's just get it done," he said. "I don't care whose name is on the top of the paper when it's passed."