Legislature(2001 - 2002)
05/06/2002 01:54 PM Senate JUD
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HB 330-PROVIDING ALCOHOL TO MINORS/ BREWPUB LIC.
REPRESENTATIVE NORM ROKEBERG, sponsor of HB 330, told members
that on July 9, 2001, police officer Justin Wollam and three
others were killed when Robert Esper crossed the median of the
Glenn Highway and collided with Officer Wollam's patrol car.
Esper was suspected of driving while intoxicated with a blood
alcohol level of .091. Representative Rokeberg stated:
While investigating the events leading up to the tragic
and deadly accident, police discovered that Esper and
his underage friends had been drinking at a party where
alcohol was furnished by two adults. Both men pleaded
guilty to furnishing alcohol to minors and were
th
sentenced on February 20 of this year. Currently
furnishing alcohol to a minor is a class A misdemeanor,
subject to no more than one year in prison and a fine
of not more than $5,000.
What HB 330 does, quite simply, is increase the penalty
for an adult who furnishes the alcohol to a class C
felony, but only in those cases where the minor goes on
to negligently cause the death and or serious physical
injury of another while acting under the influence of
alcohol.
Mr. Chairman, on the House floor one of my colleagues
added on lines 12 and 13 the words 'operating motorized
equipment, firearms, or watercraft' to further tighten
the implementation of this particular bill. In your
deliberations today I ask that you look at the words
'motorized equipment' and perhaps substitute 'motorized
vehicle' because conceptually - because there is no
definition for 'motorized equipment' in state statute.
That concludes my testimony, Mr. Chairman. I'd be happy
to answer any questions.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR took public testimony.
MS. ANNE CARPENETI, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law
(DOL), said that DOL has supported HB 330 all along but the term
"motorized equipment" is not defined in statute. Alaska statute
does contain a definition of "motor vehicle" that could be cross
referenced to AS 28.40.100; and definitions of "firearm" and
"watercraft" that could be cross referenced to Title 11. She
thought the cross references would make the bill clearer.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if the cross-references should also be
noted within the body of the language.
MS. CARPENETI said that adding to the definitions in Section (2)
(A) and (B) would work better.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked Ms. Carpeneti to draft an amendment with
the changes she suggested.
MS. CARPENETI agreed to do so.
MS. MARTI GREASON, representing Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD), thanked Representative Rokeberg for introducing HB 330
and said that national research, as well as anecdotal self-
reporting at an Anchorage middle school, show that when young
people choose to drink, they frequently start around the age of
12. All have had the assistance of an adult to obtain alcohol.
Alcohol is involved in too many deaths and injuries of young
people. MADD believes that adults who provide alcohol to underage
persons who, while under the influence, cause injury or death
must be held to a higher standard of responsibility and
culpability. MADD supports HB 330 to accomplish that objective.
MS. CATHIE MAURO told members that she lost her 14 year-old
daughter in the July 9 accident. She first started getting
support for making this action a felony in August by contacting
her legislators and MADD. With their support, HB 330 has gotten
this far. She expressed concern about some of the language
changes made during the committee process. She originally wanted
adults who furnish alcohol to children to not only be accountable
for the children's actions while impaired by the alcohol, but
also accountable for the lives of the children they provide the
alcohol to. She said if one removes the car from the July 9
scenario, the children could have died from alcohol poisoning or
hypothermia. She noted that many things can happen when children
are impaired by alcohol. She suggested that fine-tuning HB 330
could save many lives. She asked that committee members not wait
until they experience a similar tragedy before doing more to
deter adults from furnishing alcohol to children.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR noted the arrival of Senator Ellis.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG repeated that the House floor amendment
added the words "operating motorized equipment, firearms, or
watercraft" on lines 12 and 13. He noted the intent of the floor
amendment was to narrow the scope of the bill.
SENATOR DONLEY asked for a synopsis of the floor debate on the
amendment.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said, in his opinion, the only reason for
the debate was that his colleagues were feeling guilty about
their own experiences in life. He believes they didn't wish to
raise culpability to the level of a felony if an assault occurred
that resulted in an injury and death. He said he personally
disagreed but lost the debate.
SENATOR DONLEY asked if this bill will hold the adult who
provides the alcohol responsible and charges the adult with a
class C felony.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said that is correct. He added one part
of the issue is furnishing alcohol within a family. Under
existing statute, a parent can give a child alcohol and a
majority spouse can give a minority spouse alcohol. The issue
becomes one of hosting and discussions on the House floor and in
House committees centered around presumed liabilities if a minor
secretly took alcohol. He said that is not what this bill covers
and, because the standard is criminal negligence, there is no
mens rea for intent if a minor steals alcohol at one's home.
SENATOR DONLEY asked what the interrelationship is between this
felony and the existing statutes that allow a parent to furnish a
child with alcohol. He asked, "Are we only criminalizing the
activity when it's - are we accelerating the criminal fine for
only the activity that is currently a criminal activity or are we
also creating some sort of criminal penalty when the providing of
the alcohol is actually legal under existing statute but then
there's a subsequent serious physical injury or death?"
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG replied, "No. All we're doing here under
the original bill before they put the motorized craft and stuff
in was to create an aggravator if there was serious injury or
death. That is all we're doing, basically creating an
aggravator." He repeated the House floor amendment narrowed the
scope.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR suggested that the choices being offered are
either to delete the House floor amendment or clarify it by
deleting "motor equipment" and inserting the words "motor
vehicles," which is defined in statute, and then providing for
additional clean-up language, including statutory references to
"firearms" and "watercraft."
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked Representative Rokeberg to recount the
discussion on "motorized equipment" versus "motorized vehicle."
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said some wordsmithing was done to make
sure that ATVs and snowmobiles were included.
SENATOR THERRIAULT noted that those vehicles will not be included
in the definition of "motor vehicle."
MS. CARPENETI told members if the bill cross references AS
28.40.100, snow machines will be included.
SENATOR DONLEY said that he tends to agree that the original
language is better because he can think of some scenarios
involving activities other than operating motorized equipment,
firearms or watercraft that this bill should apply to.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR agreed. He suggested amending CSHB 330(FIN)am by
deleting the words "operating motorized equipment, firearms or
watercraft" on page 1, lines 12 and 13.
SENATOR DONLEY asked Chairman Taylor his opinion of retaining the
word "acting" throughout the bill as that word was added by the
House Finance Committee.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR questioned whether anything substantive was added
to the bill by inserting the word "acting."
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG explained that the word "acting" was
included by the legal drafter to make the provisions symmetrical.
MS. CARPENETI said it was actually included by the House Finance
Committee at her suggestion. The committee wanted to clarify that
the person was acting under the influence of the alcohol that was
illegally furnished. She was not sure its addition actually
clarifies the causal relationship.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR maintained that it does clarify that the adult
can only be involved if the minor was under the influence of the
alcoholic beverage received in violation of this section.
SENATOR DONLEY asked Ms. Carpeneti if she could recommend other
language.
MS. CARPENETI said she would recommend using the House Judiciary
Committee language.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR maintained that Amendment 1 would return the bill
to the House Judiciary Committee version. He then noted that
without further discussion or objection, Amendment 1 was adopted.
There being no further discussion, SENATOR DONLEY moved SCS CSHB
330(JUD) from committee with individual recommendations and its
accompanying fiscal notes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR announced that without objection, SCS CSHB 330
(JUD) moved from committee.
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