Just weeks after state lawmakers agreed to boost the sales tax and vehicle license fees, two state senators proposed today that the tax on cigarettes be increased by $1.50 a pack.

Such a hike would raise $1.2 billion a year, most of it for routine state services. But 15% of the money would be spent on lung cancer research, efforts to reduce tobacco use and enforcement of tobacco laws. The proposal came from state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

The measure is part of a package that includes a proposed ban on the sale of tobacco within 1,000 feet of schools and at retailers such as video stores, doughnut shops and other settings that attract children.

“Despite existing laws that prohibit the sale of tobacco products to minors, children continue to buy tobacco products,” Padilla said. “Three out of four smokers start before they are 18, and one of three youth smokers will eventually die prematurely from smoking-related illness. California needs to do more to keep tobacco away from kids.”‘

Padilla said the proposal would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

He said California has one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the nation, an 87-cent-per-pack levy that ranks the state 30th. Boosting the tax to $2.37 would make California’s the fifth-highest tobacco tax in the country.

Padilla said that about 4 million Californians smoke. But even though the increase would be a “sin tax” not affecting most residents, the proposal is already drawing fire from taxpayer advocates.

“How [much] can you tax a particular product of this kind and not end legitimate purchases and force it underground?” said Lew Uhler, president of the National Tax Limitation Committee. Uhler said he does not smoke.

Other proposals made today would stop the issue of new tobacco-sale licenses in neighborhoods where there are already too many tobacco sellers and would cap the number of tobacco licenses that could be issued by the Board of Equalization in a year.