Bill would fine parents who host underage drinking parties
By Cole Higgins | cole.higgins@wearegreenbay.com Published 01/04 2016 10:50PM Updated 01/05 2016 08:51AM
Rep. André Jacque, R-De Pere, has reintroduced a bill that would prohibit adults from providing alcohol to minors on their property.
Right now, state law says adults can not serve alcohol to those under 21 on their property but the Supreme Court has interpreted that to mean specifically licensed premises with liquor licenses.
This bill would clarify that the prohibition also applies to homes.
In the badger state, parents can be fined for providing alcohol to a minor, but law enforcement officers must prove that the adult purchased the drinks. But if the bill, proposed by Jacque, passes, adults could be fined simply for allowing minors to drink on their property.
"We're not necessarily even talking parents, we might be talking just an adult who is otherwise essentially sponsoring underage drinking, which we know many times people drive from those parties and can have very tragic circumstances," says Jacque.
Parents who violate the bill and host a party could be subject to a $500 fine per underage person. The bill is especially timely in Brown County, where the sheriff's office and three other law enforcement agencies responded to a large underage drinking party in Ashwaubenon on New Year's Day. Ashwaubenon has had it's own 'social hosting' ordinance to fine parents who host drinking parties for several years, but Jacque says there's concern that community ordinances would not hold up in court, unless state law is changed.
"The idea is to be able to have an enforceable strong standard," says Jacque.
The Executive Director of the Jackie Nitschke addiction treatment center says this bill, like many of Jacque's that surround drinking, are created with good intentions to change the culture in the state. However, he says he would like to see more lawmakers focusing on enforcing bills already on the books that help combat addiction and mental health issues.
"Those bills are designed to cover treatment at the same level as a physical illness but the problem is nobody is enforcing those bills and they're full of loopholes," explains Bill LaBine.
Rep. Jacque proposed a similar bill in 2013 that passed an Assembly committee 7-1, but did not get a vote on the floor.
He's hopeful that this bill will move forward in the next couple months.