Legislature(2001 - 2002)
04/27/2001 03:30 PM House L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 226-EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS UNDER AGE 19 CHAIR MURKOWSKI announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 226, "An Act relating to the employment of persons 14 years of age or older and under 19 years of age on licensed premises, including hotels, restaurants, or eating places; and relating to hours of work of minors under 16 years of age." Number 2133 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT moved to adopt CSHB 226, Version 22- LS0368\O, Cramer, 4/27/01, as the working document before the committee. There being no objection, Version O was before the committee. JOHN MANLY, Staff to Representative John Harris, Alaska State Legislature, testified on behalf of the sponsor. Mr. Manly paraphrased the following sponsor statement: House Bill 226 was introduced with the objective of making it easier for minors to obtain summer and after school employment, especially in hotels, restaurants and other eating establishments. Many more kids could get jobs as dishwashers, hotel maids, busboys, etc., if not for the fact that most of the businesses where they might be employed have beverage dispensary licenses. Current state law also makes it unnecessarily difficult for employers, as well as the job-seeking youth. Finding workers willing to take jobs that typically are not high-paying becomes more difficult if high school-age kids are not eligible. And it becomes a real problem during the short but intense tourist season when kids on summer vacation are required to get their parents' permission before they can start working. This is a process that can take days or weeks, during which time the youth lose income and employers go without help. HB 226 seeks to streamline this process by allowing youth 16-18 years of age to work in these jobs without having to obtain their parents' permission. Provisions in current law are retained that prevent minors from serving, mixing, delivering or dispensing alcoholic beverages, and requiring the employer to notify the Department of Labor and Workforce Development of the fact that a minor is working for them. HB 226 also extends state law to allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work in these hotels, restaurants, resorts, and other eating places, with their parents' permission. This bill also makes changes to state law governing the number of hours and time of day a minor can work, while school is in session and when it is not, mainly to align Alaska law with current federal limits. MR. MANLY turned to the proposed CS, which attempts to cleanup one of the statutes that was left on the books when the state changed the legal drinking age from 19 to 21. Number 1980 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT said that this seems to head in the direction that "we" have been trying not to go. That is, "we" have been trying to disassociate kids from alcohol. Representative Kott asked whether there is a potential problem with this legislation regarding the ability of a 16-year-old busboy busing tables where alcohol was left on the table. MR. MANLY acknowledged that such may be a potential problem. Clearly, in the past the legislature didn't want kids working near [alcohol]. REPRESENTATIVE KOTT remarked that perhaps the delivering portion of the legislation would cover this potential problem; however, he wasn't sure. Representative Kott surmised that the restaurant owner will have to establish drinking and nondrinking sections in the restaurant. He recalled that under current law, a person under age 21 can't even lift an alcoholic beverage. MR. MANLY pointed out that it may be a matter of segregating duties and training staff that employees under age 21 aren't allowed to bus tables with alcohol or the [of age employee] removes the alcohol before [the underage employee] buses the table. Number 1816 REPRESENTATIVE HALCRO said that as an employer he wasn't sure that he would place himself in a position of risk by hiring a 14- or 15-year old to bus tables in a place where there is alcohol. Representative Halcro inquired as to who is requesting this legislation. MR. MANLY answered that this legislation was introduced upon the request of one of Representative Harris' constituents who has a combination hotel restaurant lounge in Valdez. This constituent has difficulty obtaining even dishwashers due to the way the law is written. Mr. Manly related his understanding that the current law says that minors cannot sell alcoholic beverages and thus restaurants that serve beer would not be able to have a [minor] run the cash register because that constitutes selling the alcoholic beverage. MR. MANLY, in response to Chair Murkowski, said that he believes that an employer of a combination hotel restaurant lounge wouldn't be able to hire a 15-year-old as a maid because the building houses a place where alcohol is sold. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG pointed out that the licensing law requires a diagram of a licensed premise, which may limit service to a specific area. However, he acknowledged that there may be room service. REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD said that he wasn't clear on the current law. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER related his understanding that if a business has a full dispensary license, then all employees must be 21. However, if the business has a beer and wine license, then there can be employees that are under 21. Number 1621 DOUG GRIFFIN, Director, Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, Department of Revenue, testified via teleconference. Mr. Griffin explained that places that have beverage dispensary licenses [such as a Red Robin] are allowed to employee people under 21 years of age if a restaurant designation permit has been received. The restaurant designation permit requires approval by the local governing body and review of the floor plan. An [underage] employee in such a location can engage in duties that don't involve the serving, dispensing, or selling of alcoholic beverages. For example, a Red Robin could have [an employee under the age of 21 as a] hostess, kitchen staff, or busboy. Mr. Griffin agreed with Representative Kott that the busing of tables is one area in which it is possible for an underage individual to come into contact with alcoholic beverages that are unconsumed on the table. In such situations, [the ABC Board] encourages the contents of the beverages to be dumped into a bin at the table in order to avoid consumption by the underage employee. Mr. Griffin noted that an [underage] employee, perhaps a cashier, is allowed to carry the bill even though the bill may contain alcoholic beverages. Mr. Griffin emphasized that in all cases the establishment has to have a restaurant designation permit [in order to employee underage people]. He clarified that under current law [an underage employee in a location that serves alcohol] has to be at least 16 years of age. In regard to the maid example, Mr. Griffin said that Representative Rokeberg was correct in that a hotel with room service would be part of the licensed premises, which has been problematic and thus even a 14- or 15-year-old hasn't been allowed to be employed as a maid on such a premises. Number 1403 MR. GRIFFIN confirmed that the [ABC Board] is opposed to lowering the age limit from 16 years of age to 14. Although Mr. Griffin was sympathetic to a brief "labor shortage" in isolated areas in Alaska, he didn't feel that it's good policy to lower the age to 14 in an attempt to deal with that issue. He felt that there are other areas that the employer could explore in order to deal with a "labor shortage." Furthermore, he expressed concern with regard to the lack of parental permission. Mr. Griffin related his belief that things are liberal enough now and the system is working. Moreover, this legislation may have some unintended consequences. Mr. Griffin also agreed with Representative Kott in that this legislation seems, by allowing younger and younger people to be involved in jobs that serve alcohol, to send a mixed message. Therefore, the ABC Board is opposed to HB 226. CHAIR MURKOWSKI referred to Section 2 of HB 226 that refers to an exception outlined under AS 04.16.049(c), which doesn't allow a minor to consume, possess, or control alcohol. She asked if she was missing something. MR. GRIFFIN replied no and explained that "we're" saying that there are some jobs that can be performed on a liquor license premises, assuming the restaurant designation permit is in place, by [the designated age group of minors]. Mr. Griffin reiterated the ABC Board's position that the age of 16 for these jobs is liberal enough. He pointed out that 14- and 15-year- olds are middle kids versus 16-year-old high school kids and there is a difference between the maturity level of those ages. REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD returned to the exceptions and asked if these [employees that are minors] would be allowed to stock the bar after hours and perhaps even carry in beer to stock the bar. Such actions don't seem to fall under serving, mixing, delivering, or dispensing. MR. GRIFFIN answered that the general rule would be that such wouldn't be allowed and would probably be considered delivering. Number 1001 MR. GRIFFIN, in response to Representative Rokeberg, answered that if the establishment is in an unorganized area, the restaurant designation permit can be obtained directly from the ABC Board. Mr. Griffin indicated that this permit involves a more detailed diagram than that existing in the liquor license file because the board is interested in employment as well as the circumstances under which an individual under the age of 21 may be able to enter a restaurant that serves alcohol for the purpose of dining. In further response to Representative Rokeberg, Mr. Griffin clarified that [when there is a local governing body] that local governing body has to approve the permit. Number 0842 REBECCA NANCE GAMEZ, Director, Division of Employment Security, Department of Labor & Workforce Development (DLWD), referred to Sections 3 and 4 of HB 226 to which DLWD would be supportive. Those sections place the state in compliance with federal regulations by clearly defining the hours and days that minors under the age of 16 may work. The department has no opinion on the other sections of the bill. There was discussion regarding a CS [Version L] that was never before the committee. The discussion concluded that Version O merely lowers the age while the process remains the same. MR. MANLY agreed that the main difference in the legislation and the current law is the lowering of the age as well as the fact that 16- to 20-year-olds wouldn't have to obtain their parent's written permission to start work. However, if their parents don't want them to work at a particular place, there is still the common law fundamental that these children are wards of their parents and thus the parents could notify the employer that they don't want their children working at the establishment. MR. MANLY, in response to Chair Murkowski, agreed that this legislation would repeal subsection (d), which will allow young people to now work the cash register where alcoholic beverages may be sold. The committee took a brief at-ease from 4:57 p.m. to 5:02 p.m. Number 0345 REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG noted that the committee has a number of issues before it involving youth employment and thus he thought the committee should research those issues, including this topic. Representative Rokeberg wasn't sure that this legislation addresses an issue that is applicable statewide. He expressed the need to develop a streamlined youth employment system. CHAIR MURKOWSKI noted that Representative Rokeberg had been chairing the subcommittee on HB 128 and thus she asked if he would be willing to take on a subcommittee on HB 226 and other related issues. She appointed herself and Representative Crawford to be members of this subcommittee. [HB 226 was heard and held.]
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