Senate committee approves measure to punish underage drinking

A bill to make minors and their parents more responsible for underage drinking in bars and clubs was unanimously approved by the Senate Business and Labor Committee Wednesday.

HB129, sponsored by Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, will do two things if it becomes law. First, it will increase the fines and penalties for using fake identification and make it harder for a convicted minor to get a suspended drivers license back.

Second, the bill will permit a business that is slapped with a fine for admitting a minor using fake identification to file suit against that minor and his or her parents and recover up to 50 percent of the fine plus any court costs.

"Maybe that will bring some parenting back into this whole issue," Oda said during floor debate in the House last week.

Oda said his proposal would start to "put the blame where it belongs" and punish the people who are actually causing the problems with underage drinking.

"If we are going to slow the use of alcohol by minors let's go right to them," Oda said. "They are ones going into the clubs, the bars and the liquor stores."

Oda told senators the law currently goes after the wrong people when it comes to underage drinking in clubs and that many establishments are forced out of business as a result.

"Personal responsibility, what a concept," Oda said.

Under current law, a minor using fake identification to get into an establishment serving alcohol can be charged with anything from trespassing to document fraud, which is a third-degree felony.

Oda told the committee that prosecutions are rarely attempted and are usually not successful when they are attempted. He called the current penalties "so minor it means nothing" to the kids.

"This will do more to stop minors [from drinking] than anything we've got going anywhere else," Oda said.

Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, who is the Senate sponsor of Oda's bill, said it would "signal that we are not going to put up with this type of behavior."

Oda began his presentation to the committee by holding up a large bag of fake drivers licenses that he said had been confiscated from minors at just one local club over the course of one year.

The bill sailed through the House unopposed last week and will now be considered by the full Senate.

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