CSHB 428(JUD)-CIVIL PENALTY: MINORS & ALCOHOL  CHAIR CON BUNDE announced CSHB 428(JUD) to be up for consideration. REPRESENTATIVE KEVIN MEYER, sponsor, said HB 428 was requested by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) and Brown Jug. It simply tries to deter kids from asking adults to buy alcohol for them and tries to deter adults from buying alcohol for kids. "The way to do this is to have businesses take civil action against these people who try to do it." A business in Anchorage has already used this technique, nicknamed 'Hey, Mister' on about 100 people. Once a person is notified of a civil action, he is given a choice of either paying a fine of $1,000 or going to an education program sponsored by MADD and other organizations to get $700 waived. Most people choose to participate in this program. He explained that three different groups of people buy alcohol for minors - older brothers and sisters, homeless people and sex offenders (who probably have other motives). This bill has passed the House with no opposition. There was a concern that businesses would be forced to take this type of action, but it is totally optional. It doesn't cost the state or the city anything. SENATOR HOLLIS FRENCH said he totally agreed with the intent of the bill and asked what happens to the $1,000 once Brown Jug gets its mitts on it. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER answered that Brown Jug's testimony states that it waives $700 of the fine and keeps $300, if the offender agrees to go through the alcohol education program. The $300 covers their administrative costs. MR. O.C. MADDEN, Director, Human Resources and Loss Prevention, Brown Jug, Inc., explained that the municipal assembly adopted this ordinance last year. The civil penalty has been used to encourage a bunch of youngsters who would not have otherwise received treatment to get involved in a treatment program. We offer a bonus to our employees to seize fake IDs from minors and minors who illegally enter licensed premises and now we are offering a bonus to employees to interrupt these third-party sales where an adult has purchased alcohol for a minor. We use the $300 to pay the bonus to the employee; we waive $700 of the $1,000 if the minor will agree to sign up for treatment. Virtually all of them have. We are also able to do the same thing with the adults who are purchasing alcohol for minors. We found this to be a very effective tool and due to some questions we have from other licensees around the state that are interested in doing the same thing, we approached Representative Meyers with this idea. SENATOR SEEKINS asked which statute deals with persons who buy alcohol for minors. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER replied that it falls under AS 4.16.060. SENATOR FRENCH asked if the bill goes after the fake IDs or the Hey, Mister sale. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER replied that Brown Jug has been very aggressive in getting fake IDs, but that action falls under a different bill and a different statute. This bill focuses on the Hey Mister sales. MR. DAVE LAMBERT, Fairbanks, said he owns two establishments and strongly supported HB 428. He said a similar bill about minors entering premises passed a couple of years ago had worked very well. It gave employees incentive to go after minors trying to purchase. Prior to that, most employees didn't care. SENATOR FRENCH asked how the $1,000 is divvied up when he is successful in one of these suits. MR. LAMBERT replied that he has five in the works right now and has received partial payment on two of them. An employee receives $500 for catching his first offender. After that, he gets $250 for each one - after the money is collected. So, all of a sudden the door-people and bartenders are really paying attention to checking IDs.... A thousand dollars isn't that much if a minor comes into a premises and is served and goes out and gets in a wreck. A thousand dollars doesn't go very far to cover our legal fees. SENATOR FRENCH asked if he could assume that the other half of the money in the first instance and the other three quarters of it in the second in the subsequent instances go to him as the bar-owner. MR. LAMBERT replied yes, after he collects it. He strongly supports the training, but he doesn't think it should be part of this bill. The city of Fairbanks doesn't have the money to go after small things. SENATOR SEEKINS asked if paragraph (B) puts a foster parent at risk for the actions of a 14 or 15 year old who wants him to buy a six-pack. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER replied that he didn't think so, because it's currently legal for parents to buy alcohol for their kids within their own home and for their own use. SENATOR SEEKINS clarified that he was wondering about a person who has legal custody of an unemancipated minor. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER said he didn't know. MS. CINDY CASHEN, MADD Juneau Chapter, said she is also representing the other three MADD Alaska Chapters in Anchorage, Mat-Su and Fairbanks and supported HB 428 because it will assist in the prevention of underage drinking. The Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey is conducted annually. The latest one included 42 schools out of 19 districts with 2,175 completed questionnaires for grades 9 - 12. According to the survey, 38.7 percent of teenagers claim they had at least one drink in the 30 days prior to filling out the survey; almost 27 percent claimed five or more drinks within a couple of hours, binge drinking, in the previous month. In comparison, 29.9 percent of Alaskan adults reported binge drinking one or more times in the past month. This bill will help prevent that by adding a tool to community policing. SENATOR GARY STEVENS asked if Anchorage is the only area that has a program and if MADD would be involved if it were here. MS. CASHEN replied that's true. MADD would be involved in the communities that wanted to start the program. MS. JESSICA PARIS, MADD Youth In Action Program, said as an opponent of underage drinking, she supports HB 428, because it proposes a unique, free and proactive way to prevent underage drinking and the tragedies associated with it like dropping out of high school, premature sexual activity, car crashes, etc. "This bill provides the incentives for store owners to get involved and help prevent these transactions." MS. PARIS stated that a $1,000 civil fine is an appropriate amount because it is enough to impact either an adult or a youth. It is compensation for an otherwise thankless task of providing extra staff, confronting people in their parking lot, sending legal documents and risking being taken to court by the defendant. MS. SUZANNE CUNNINGHAM, Staff to Representative Meyer, explained that AS 4.16.051 does not prohibit a parent or a guardian or the legal spouse of that person from giving alcohol to a minor. It doesn't say legal guardian specifically, but the bill includes that. She wasn't sure about the foster parent question. CHAIR BUNDE noted there was no further testimony and closed the public hearing. SENATOR SEEKINS moved to pass CSHB 428 (JUD) from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. Senators Bettye Davis, Hollis French, Ralph Seekins, Gary Stevens and Chair Con Bunde voted yea; and CSHB 428(JUD) moved out of committee.