05/11/2007 01:30 PM Senate JUDICIARY

     CSHB 118(RLS)-PROHIBIT ALLOWING MINORS TO HAVE ALCOHOL                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
2:32:36 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR FRENCH announced the consideration of CSHB 118(RLS).                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MIKE PAWLOWSKI,  Aide to Representative  Kevin Meyer,  sponsor of                                                               
HB 118,  said he was asked  to add that the  Department of Public                                                               
Safety (DPS) likes this bill.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  McGUIRE asked  if there  has been  any discussion  about                                                               
changing the  mental intent to  "intentionally" permit  a person.                                                               
She would  feel better about  the bill  if it was  an intentional                                                               
mental state.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
MR. PAWLOWSKI responded that was  discussed at length. One of the                                                               
first points was that "intentional"  isn't a mental state that is                                                               
included  in  Title  4,  which   says  it's  "knowingly  criminal                                                               
negligence and  recklessly." They went with  "recklessly" largely                                                               
because the  issue the  police are confronted  with is  trying to                                                               
prove  "knowingly" when  it  comes to  furnishing  a standard  of                                                               
proof they can't do when they show up at these parties.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
As to the  gun discussion, within the  definition of "recklessly"                                                               
is  the idea  that  the  unjustifiable risk  has  to  be a  gross                                                               
deviation  from  the  standard that  a  reasonable  person  would                                                               
pursue. They  felt comfortable that "recklessly"  wasn't bringing                                                               
in the  type of thing  she was talking  about like locked  gun or                                                               
liquor  cabinets.   "Furnishing"  is  an  action   that  is  very                                                               
difficult to prove, he said.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
2:36:27 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR  THERRIAULT  asked  if  "physically  in  possession"  and                                                               
"exercising domain" actually means the person is there.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR FRENCH replied  that's what he thought it  meant. The child                                                               
of the  parent who owns  the house is  the one who  probably gets                                                               
busted. If  a party is taking  place at a construction  site or a                                                               
house being  constructed he didn't  know who would  be exercising                                                               
control, but other statutes could  catch those. This is a problem                                                               
because  house parties  where kids  go to  drink take  place with                                                               
great regularity  and someone is  letting them in and  someone is                                                               
letting it go on. So he understood the impulse behind the bill.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
2:38:05 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR  WIELECHOWSKI asked  if this  bill means  he wouldn't  be                                                               
liable if he was  away on a camping trip and  his son or daughter                                                               
had a party at his house.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  FRENCH replied  that his  hypothetical daughter  would get                                                               
the ticket.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MR. PAWLOWSKI  added that  the sponsor  specifically asked  for a                                                               
Rules  Committee  hearing   in  the  other  body   to  make  some                                                               
clarifying   changes.   The    previous   version   didn't   have                                                               
"physically"  on line  5; also  following  "possession" "or"  was                                                               
changed to "and".  The conscious change in  going from "physical"                                                               
and inserting "and"  is that you have to physically  be there and                                                               
exercising dominion and  control specifically to get  to what the                                                               
chairman was describing as a circumstance.                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR McGUIRE  said this  is just  the place  where there  is a                                                               
philosophical divide -  your family, your home, the  way you live                                                               
your life is  private and there is nothing in  law right now that                                                               
prohibits  a police  officer from  coming  to a  house party  and                                                               
making a  significant scene. She  didn't know that this  would be                                                               
more constructive than what exists now.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
Another concern  she had was  if they drop to  "recklessly" here,                                                               
they still  have "furnishing  at knowingly"  and that  creates an                                                               
odd  staggering  in  the  statutes.   She  posed  a  hypothetical                                                               
situation  in which  kids sneak  friends into  a large  house and                                                               
parents are in the house somewhere  thinking the kids are in bed.                                                               
She said teenagers are teenagers; they  are who they are. It's an                                                               
age requiring a lot of patience  for everyone. She said maybe one                                                               
has a teenager who has a  propensity for trouble for instance; to                                                               
her that would be a known risk.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
2:41:32 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR  FRENCH  asked  Senator  McGuire if  she  was  offering  an                                                               
amendment.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
2:41:51 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR McGUIRE moved to insert "knowingly" after "not" on page                                                                 
1, line 6.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR FRENCH found no objection and Amendment 1 was adopted.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR McGUIRE moved to report SCS CSHB 118(JUD) from committee                                                                
with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s).                                                                    
There were no objections and it was so ordered.