Report Title:

Intoxicating Liquor; Minors

 

Description:

Prohibits attempts by minors using false identification to purchase liquor by establishing fines and other penalties.   Designates 50% of revenues from fines to county programs for underage drinking awareness and prevention.  Authorizes the issuance of citations as an alternative to arrest for violations associated with intoxicating liquor.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

606

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

Relating to intoxicating liquor.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 281-80, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§281-80  Arrest[.] or citation.  (a)  Any investigator or police officer who observes any violation by any person of this chapter or of any rule or regulation of the liquor commission, may forthwith arrest the person without a warrant.  Whenever any violation of this chapter or of the regulations of the commission occurs in the presence of any licensee, or any investigator or police officer, upon request of the licensee the police officer or investigator may assist the licensee in arresting any patron for violation thereof.

     (b)  Except when state law, including any rule adopted pursuant to this chapter, requires that a person cited for violation of any provision of this chapter be immediately taken before a district judge, any enforcement officer upon a violation of this chapter or a rule adopted thereto, shall issue to the alleged violator a summons or citation printed in the form described in this section, warning the alleged violator to appear and answer to the charge at a certain place and at a time within seven days after such notice.

     (c)  The summons or citation shall be printed in a form comparable to the form of other summonses and citations used for arresting offenders and shall be designed to provide for inclusion of all necessary information.  The form and content of the summons or citation shall be adopted or prescribed by the district courts.

     (d)  The original of a summons or citation shall be given to the alleged violator and the other copy or copies distributed in the manner prescribed by the district courts; provided that the district courts may prescribe alternative methods of distribution of the original and any other copy.

     (e)  Summonses and citations shall be consecutively numbered and the carbon copy or copies of each shall bear the same number.

     (f)  Any person who fails to appear at the place and within the time specified in the summons or citation shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

     (g)  If any person fails to comply with a summons or citation issued to that person, or if any person fails or refuses to deposit bail as required, the enforcement officer shall cause a complaint to be entered against that person and secure the issuance of a warrant for the person's arrest.

     (h)  When a complaint is made to any prosecuting officer of the violation of any provision of this chapter, including any rule adopted hereunder, the enforcement officer who issued the summons or citation shall subscribe to it under oath administered by another official of the liquor commission whose name has been submitted to the prosecuting officer and who has been designated by the director to administer the same.

     (i)  For the purpose of this section, "enforcement officer" means an investigator or police officer."

     SECTION 2.  Section 281-101.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§281-101.5  Prohibitions involving minors; penalty.  (a)  Any adult who provides or purchases liquor for consumption or use by a person under twenty-one years of age shall be guilty of the offense under section 712‑1250.5.

     (b)  No minor shall consume or purchase liquor and no minor shall consume or have liquor in the minor's possession or custody in any public place, public gathering, or public amusement, at any public beach or public park, or in any motor vehicle on a public highway; provided that notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, this subsection shall not apply to:

     (1)  Possession or custody of liquor by a minor in the course of delivery, pursuant to the direction of the minor's employer lawfully engaged in business necessitating the delivery;

     (2)  Possession, custody, or consumption of liquor by a minor in connection with the minor's authorized participation in religious ceremonies requiring such possession, custody, or consumption; or

     (3)  Any person between the ages of eighteen and twenty, who is participating in a controlled purchase as part of a law enforcement activity or a study authorized by the department of health to determine the level of incidence of liquor sales to minors.

     (c)  No minor shall falsify any identification or use any false identification or identification of another person or of a fictitious person for the purpose of buying or attempting to buy liquor [or], for the purpose of obtaining employment to sell or serve liquor on licensed premises[.], or for the purpose of gaining entry to the premises of a licensee that excludes minors or admits only a person who produces identification to prove the person is twenty-one years of age or older.

     (d)  Any person under [age] eighteen years of age who violates this section shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the family court.  [Any person age eighteen to twenty-one who violates subsection (b) or (c) shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor.

     The] (e)  Except as provided in subsection (g), the court shall order that any person under twenty-one years of age found to be in violation of this section shall have, in addition to any other disposition or sentencing provision permitted by law, the person's license to operate a motor vehicle, or the person's ability to obtain a license to operate a motor vehicle, suspended as follows:

     (1)  For licensed drivers, the driver's license shall be suspended for not less than one hundred and eighty days with exceptions to allow, at the discretion of the sentencing court, driving to and from school, school-sponsored activities, and employment;

     (2)  For persons with a provisional license, the provisional license shall be suspended for not less than one hundred and eighty days with exceptions to allow, at the discretion of the sentencing court, driving to and from school, school-sponsored activities, and employment;

     (3)  For persons with an instruction permit, the instruction permit shall be suspended for not less than one hundred and eighty days with exceptions to allow, at the discretion of the sentencing court, driving to and from school, school-sponsored activities, and employment; or

     (4)  For persons not licensed to drive, eligibility to obtain a driver's license, provisional license, or instruction permit shall be suspended until the age of seventeen or for one hundred and eighty days, at the discretion of the court; and

     (5)  Chapter 571 notwithstanding, in any case where a person under the age of eighteen violates this section, the family court judge may suspend the driver's license, provisional license, or instruction permit, or suspend the eligibility to obtain a driver's license, provisional license, or instruction permit in accordance with this section;

provided that the requirement to provide proof of financial responsibility pursuant to section 287-20 shall not be based upon a sentence imposed under paragraphs (1) and (2).  In addition, all persons whether or not licensed, found to be in violation of this section shall be sentenced to seventy-five hours of community service work, and an eight to twelve hour program of alcohol education and counseling the costs of which shall be borne by the offender or the offender's parent or guardian.

     (f)  Any person who violates subsection (b) or (c) may be sentenced as follows:

     (1)  For a first offense, by a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $250;

     (2)  For an offense that occurs within three years of a prior offense under subsection (b) or (c), by a fine of not less than $250 and not more than $500; and

     (3)  For an offense that occurs within three years of two or more prior offenses under subsection (b) or (c), by a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000.

     (g)  Any person who violates subsection (b) or (c) shall be subject to either the penalties under subsection (e) or under subsection (f), but not both.

     (h)  When an enforcement officer issues a citation for a violation of subsection (b) or (c) and the person is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (f)(1) or (2), the citation shall be treated as a traffic infraction for purposes of disposition pursuant to chapter 291D.

     (i)  The director of finance shall distribute fifty per cent of the revenues from violations of subsections (b) and (c) to the county in which the violation occurred.  The funds shall be used for anti-underage drinking programs or underage drinking law enforcement programs.

     [(e)] (j)  As used in this section, "consume" or "consumption" includes the ingestion of liquor."

     SECTION 3.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2009.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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