When Mark Miloscia was sworn in to start his first term serving Federal Way as a Republican in the state Senate, his parents were fortunate enough to be there to support him.

Miloscia said it was a special moment and something that likely wouldn’t have been possible had his parents not decided to stop smoking in the 1960s following the U.S. Surgeon General’s warnings regarding the risk factors of long-term nicotine addiction.

“My wife’s parents didn’t make that decision,” Miloscia said. “They were never able to stop and they ended up passing away 20 years ago due to health complications from smoking.”

While serving in the state House as a Democrat from 1999-2013, Miloscia said one of his top priorities was always helping people to live a long and healthy life.

Now Miloscia is continuing that priority in the state Senate and embarking on a new fight. He is sponsoring a bill, proposed and endorsed by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, that if passed would change the legal age to purchase and smoke cigarettes and vapor products from 18 to 21.

The passage of such a law would be unprecedented in United States history. Washington would become the first state to make the legal age to smoke mirror the legal age to drink.

Before Washington, the states of Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah established laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to those under 19.

Some cities and counties have also passed laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to those under 21. Needham, Massachusetts was the first do so in 2005. The smoking rate among high school youth in Needham dropped by more than half between 2006 and 2012.

The reasoning behind Ferguson’s proposal to change the legal age to 21 is to mitigate the risk of nicotine addiction at a younger age. The brain of an 18-year-old to 21-year-old, studies show, is more susceptible to addiction because it is not as fully mature compared to an adult’s brain.

Each year, 8,300 Washingtonians die from complications to smoking. A vast number of those who die started at a young age.

“The damage tobacco does to the lives and health of Washingtonians is devastating,” Ferguson said. “We must do more to protect our youth from tobacco’s grip, and this bill is an important step toward keeping nicotine out of the hands of kids and young adults.”

Miloscia said the journey he and supporters of the bill will take will be an arduous one. Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, is sponsoring the corresponding House bill.

“Whenever you do far-reaching policies like this, it will face challenges in the House and Senate,” Miloscia explained. “This [bill] will get the conversation going about the true costs of smoking. This [bill] is a win-win but the rule is it takes three years to pass a bill.”

Miloscia, Ferguson and other supporters have started the process of building a strong coalition to shepherd the idea and make it a reality.

“It’s about building the political will and the coalition to do it,” Miloscia added.

It might be a steep hill to climb largely due to budgetary concerns.

Ferguson admits that if the law were to pass, the state budget would be hit with an estimated annual loss of $20 million in tobacco-tax revenues. Savings to the state’s healthcare system as a result of a change in the law may not be fully realized for decades to come.

But Miloscia is resolute in his belief that the long-term health benefits for the thousands who would otherwise fall victim to nicotine addiction at a young age far outweigh any short-term budgetary impacts.

“If we raise the age up, it will be really good and a lot of people will live a lot longer,” Miloscia said.

Kristen Prentice, a chemical dependency counselor serving youth at Valley Cities Counseling in Federal Way, said changing the legal age to 21 will not be the solution to ending nicotine addiction among youth but will certainly not hurt the cause.

Prentice said children as young as age 6 become addicted to smoking. Children this age often will get cigarettes from siblings, relatives, even their parents.

Stopping the habit of smoking among youth won’t occur until smoking is taught to youth as something bad and harmful, she added.

“Parents that are addicted to smoking send the wrong message to their children,” Prentice said.

Since state budget shortfalls in 2011, funding for smoking cessation programs have been reduced. Prentice said the lack of emphasis on resources to combat tobacco has been disheartening.

She said the state used to invest tons of funding in the fight against tobacco.

“As recently as five years ago, I went to several trainings at the Tobacco Resource Center (in Vancouver, Washington),” the Valley Cities counselor said.

State Secretary of Health John Wiesman recently said Washington lawmakers authorized only $3 million in 2014 to the anti-tobacco effort, $40 million less than the recommended amount suggested by the Centers for Disease Control.

Prentice said Ferguson’s proposed bill is certainly welcome and would help in the effort if passed but there is still more work to be done.