03/24/1997 09:03 AM Senate HES

                                                                               
            SB  58 MINOR CONSUMING ALCOHOL:  PENALTY                          
                                                                               
                                                                              
  CHAIRMAN WILKEN  called the Senate Health, Education and Social              
 Services (HESS) Committee to order at 9:03 a.m. and announced  SB 58          
  to be up for consideration.                                                  
                                                                               
  SENATOR GREEN  moved to adopt CSSB 58(HES).  There were no                   
 objections and it was so ordered.                                             
                                                                               
  JOE AMBROSE,  Staff to Senator Taylor, sponsor, said as per Chairman         
 Wilken's request he met with representatives of the court system,             
 Department of Law, Department of Health and Social Services, and              
 the Department of Public Safety who all had something to do with              
 the CS to SB 58 and Senator Taylor is very comfortable with this              
 bill.                                                                         
                                                                               
 Mr. Ambrose said it is surprising how little lee-way district court           
 judges have when dealing with minors consuming alcohol.  In 1995              
 minor consuming was moved from the juvenile justice system to                 
 district court.  SB 58 was introduced to correct some problems that           
 occurred with that move.  Some kids thought the $100 fine was a               
 joke and there continued to be repeat offenders.  One of the                  
 punishments a judge had available was to revoke the driver's                  
 license which entitle the defendant to a jury trial and a public              
 defender.  So SB 58 removes the driver's license revocation from              
 the purview of the court and makes it an administrative action by             
 the Division of Motor Vehicles.  Mr. Ambrose then reviewed the                
 sections of the bill.                                                         
                                                                               
 Mr. Ambrose said there is startling data about the rate of minors             
 consuming in Alaska, especially repeat offenders.  These are the              
 offenders Senator Taylor is concerned with - the teenagers who are            
 on their 12th, 13th, and 14th offense.                                        
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN WILKEN  asked how the success of this bill could be                 
 measured over time.   JOE AMBROSE  responded that question was asked          
 about the effectiveness of alcohol treatment programs in Alaska.              
 There was a study commissioned by the legislature at that time                
 which came back with the result that alcohol treatment programs in            
 Alaska are a lot more effective than some people think they were.             
 The Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse will be providing the                  
 curriculum for the classes.  He said they would hopefully see a               
 drastic reduction in the numbers of repeat offenders.                         
                                                                               
  LOREN JONES,  Director, Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, said          
 the sections that moved into the CS from SB 71 transfer the                   
 approval process for alcohol information schools, for both adults             
 and minors, from the DMV to Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse so             
 they can set up age appropriate curriculum for minors and improve             
 upon the current curriculum for adult services.  It also gives                
 authority to the division for that purpose.  This allows them to              
 also monitor kids who are being processed through this.  The                  
 division will also use the funds available to grant to local                  
 agencies throughout the state the ability to operate the youth                
 assessment programs.  He said the grants have specific evaluative             
 criteria to measure the reduction in number of repeat offenders.              
 The division hopes to get the message out that there are                      
 consequences that are certain and will be monitored, that teenagers           
 will not be able to simply walk away and do nothing about it.                 
                                                                               
 Mr. Ambrose said the state is in the third year that the "use it or           
 lose it" has been in effect and between the first and second year             
 there was not a significant increase in the number of first time              
 offenders; there was an increase in the second and third time                 
 offenders and these are the targets of this legislation.                      
                                                                               
  LOREN JONES  said success would be measured by the number of                 
 offenders going down in a five-year period.                                   
                                                                               
 Number 270                                                                    
                                                                               
  SENATOR WARD  asked if he knew what questions were asked of a person         
 applying for a driver's permit.   LOREN JONES  replied that he did            
 not.   SENATOR WARD  did not know if young citizens taking the test           
 are currently required to actually know the answer.                           
                                                                               
  JOE AMBROSE  pointed out that there is other information up-front            
 that this kind of activity would place the young person's license             
 at risk.  He clarified that this bill does not propose any kind of            
 study.  It is a bill to divert kids into actual treatment programs.           
                                                                               
                                                                               
  SENATOR GREEN  asked if there was a current component in the adult           
 ASAP program requiring those people to stay in touch even after               
 going through the program.   LOREN JONES  explained that currently an         
 individual stays until the individual has successfully completed              
 the assignment, whether it be alcohol education or treatment.  Once           
 that process is over the ASAP function is closed.  Most persons get           
 a year probation with the court.  If for some reason the individual           
 has not completed the program, the program managers try to monitor            
 the participants through the process until they do.                           
                                                                               
 Number 302                                                                    
                                                                               
  JUANITA HENSLEY,  Division of Motor Vehicles, said there are several         
 ways to educate students regarding the consequences of using                  
 alcohol.  A brochure is available to all the students in all the              
 schools and two driver improvement specialists, one in Anchorage              
 and one in Juneau, who speak in schools.  She said there is a                 
 section in the driver's manual that deals strictly with drugs                 
 and alcohol and driving.  The driver's test also has specific                 
 questions that deal with alcohol.  She mentioned that students                
 usually know about the "use it or lose it" because a friend or                
 acquaintance has been in contact with police and had his/her                  
 license revoked.  The information is out there.                               
                                                                               
  SENATOR WARD  suggested the test ask the question of how many under          
 age young citizens have lost their license due to having alcohol in           
 the car.  He thought that would make the issue even more prominent            
 and would not cost any money.   JUANITA   HENSLEY  responded that she         
 would be more than happy to work with him on developing questions             
 on that issue; the department is in the process of revising the               
 driver's manual.                                                              
  SENATOR LEMAN  related an incident of a constituent of his whose             
 driver's license was suspended for something like 10-years and he             
 would be 30 before he could legally drive.  He said he supported              
 the law, but wanted to know if this law was really working and if             
 there was something the division could do to be flexible in cases             
 like this.   JUANITA   HENSLEY  clarified that the fiscal note on whic        
 estimated the number of students caught with alcohol to be 2,500              
 was in error and there are 3,900 plus now.  The law went into                 
 effect July 1, 1994 and the division does not know whether it is              
 working at this point, because at the same time in 1995 it was                
 taken out of the criminal justice system and put into violations              
 where the judges have no control to mandate that the person go to             
 alcohol treatment.  This bill will mandate the person be screened             
 and go to alcohol treatment before the person's license is returned           
 which would help them determine whether it is working or not.                 
                                                                               
  SENATOR WARD  said the reason the 1983 drunk driving bill was as             
 successful as it was is because it made mandatory penalties.  There           
 has to be the deterrent of penalties rather than alcohol treatment            
 programs to make the number go down.  Senator Ward did not think              
 this message was clear enough to the youngsters now.  Senator Ward            
 asked Mr. Ambrose to let Senator Taylor know of his concern about             
 the testing and see if it could be worked into the bill somewhere             
 in the process.  Senator Ward moved to pass CSSB 58(HES) from                 
 committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying                
 fiscal notes.  There were no objections and it was so ordered.