BILL ANALYSIS Ó 1 SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR AB 45 - Hill Hearing Date: June 21, 2011 A As Amended: June 14, 2011 FISCAL B 4 5 DESCRIPTION Current law makes it unlawful for a person under 21 years of age to drink an alcoholic beverage. Current law makes it unlawful to provide a person under 21 years of age with an alcoholic beverage. Current law prohibits a driver or passenger in a motor vehicle from drinking any alcoholic beverage while in a motor vehicle upon a highway. Current law makes it unlawful and punishable as an infraction for any person to drive a motor vehicle with an open container of alcohol. Current law authorizes the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to regulate charter-party carriers of passengers, defined to mean persons engaged in the transportation of persons by motor vehicle for compensation on a prearranged basis over any public highway in California. Current law regulating charter party carriers generally applies to a limousine, defined to be a vehicle with seating capacity of not more than 10 passengers including the driver, and a bus, defined to be a vehicle with seating capacity of more than 10 passengers. Current law provides that the law prohibiting a passenger in a motor vehicle from drinking any alcoholic beverage does not apply to passengers in a bus or limousine. Current law provides that the law making it unlawful to drive a motor vehicle with an open container of alcohol applies to the driver of a limousine, but not a bus, when any passenger is under 21 years of age. This bill would make it unlawful to drive a bus with an open container of alcohol when any passenger is under 21 years of age. This bill would make the third offense of this open container law punishable as a misdemeanor for the driver of a limousine or bus. Current law requires the driver of a limousine to ascertain whether any passenger is under 21 years of age, read them a statement that consumption and transportation of alcohol in the vehicle is unlawful, require each passenger under 21 years of age to sign the statement, and, if that person is found to have been drinking during the course of the ride, terminate the trip and return the passenger to the point of origin of the ride. This bill would require the driver of a limousine, if a person under 21 years of age is found to have been drinking, to terminate the trip and return that passenger to the point of origin of the ride or, at the option of the driver, drop the passenger off at his or her home, nearest police station, or any other point mutually agreed to by both parties, as long as the conditions are safe for the driver. This bill would apply these requirements regarding any passenger under 21 years of age to the driver of a bus when the driver knows, or has reasonable reason to believe, that alcoholic beverages are, or will be, transported on the bus and accessible to passengers. Current law requires a court to report to the CPUC any conviction of a limousine driver for violating the open container law and authorizes the CPUC, after a hearing, to impose a civil penalty of not more than $2,000 for a first offense, impose a civil penalty of not more than $2,000 or suspend the carrier's certificate or permit for 30 days for a second offense, and revoke the carrier's certificate or permit for a third offense. This bill would authorize the CPUC to impose those same penalties when the driver of a bus is convicted of violating the open container law and the convictions are reported to the CPUC. BACKGROUND Prevention of underage drinking and the tragic loss of life that all too often results from drinking and driving is the intent of many provisions of current law. It is always unlawful for a person under 21 years of age to drink and generally unlawful for an adult to provide alcohol to a minor. It is also unlawful for any driver or passenger of a motor vehicle to drink or have any open container of alcohol while driving or for any person to drive while under the influence of alcohol. But the laws apply differently to charter party carriers, which are private vehicles for hire to transport passengers on a pre-arranged basis. Charter party carriers are regulated by the CPUC as a limousine (a vehicle with no more than 10 passengers including the driver) or a bus (a vehicle with more than 10 passengers including the driver). Some charter party carriers, with a wide range of seating capacity, are marketed as "party" vehicles and have neon lighting, bars, sound systems and often center poles and perimeter seating. A complicated web of cross-referencing sections of the Vehicle Code and Public Utilities Code allow adult passengers of a charter party carrier limousine or bus to drink alcohol on board. However, the open container prohibition applies to the driver of a limousine (but not a bus) when any passenger is under 21 years of age, effectively making it unlawful for adults in a limousine to drink if anyone in the group is a minor. In response to an apparent surge in underage drinking parties in limousines in the late 1980s, AB 3628 (Leslie, 1998) imposed new requirements on charter party limousines. A limousine driver is required to ascertain whether any passenger is under 21 years of age, read them a statement that consumption and transportation of alcohol in the vehicle is unlawful, require each passenger under 21 years of age to sign the statement, and, if that person is found to have been drinking during the course of the ride, terminate the trip and return the passenger to the point of origin. The bill also required a court to report to the CPUC any conviction of a limousine driver for violating the open container law and authorized the CPUC, after a hearing, to impose a civil penalty of not more than $2,000 for a first offense, impose a civil penalty of not more than $2,000 or suspend the carrier's certificate or permit for 30 days for a second offense, and revoke the carrier's certificate or permit for a third offense. Despite this law being in effect for more than 20 years, the CPUC has never imposed any penalties under these provisions and has not identified a single case where a court reported a conviction of a limousine driver for violating the open container law. The law does not require the CPUC to do anything unless it receives a notice of conviction under the open container law. The CPUC has sought to address underage drinking in charter party vehicles by working with law enforcement where underage drinking is a problem, including with the Hollywood Strike Force and San Diego Area Law Enforcement Task Force. COMMENTS 1. Author's Purpose . According to the author, this bill is necessary to close the loophole in current law that exempts party buses from provisions applicable to limousines and to ensure that bus drivers do not turn a blind eye to underage drinking parties. The bill is in response to the death of Brett Studebaker, a 19-year-old who crashed into a sound wall on Highway 101 near San Mateo in February 2010 after his friend's 21-year-old birthday celebration aboard a charter bus. His blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit for an adult of drinking age. The author states that this bill, named the Brett Studebaker Law, "is life-saving legislation that will prevent tragedies such as that of Brett Studebaker." 2. CPUC Penalties Triggered Only by Open Container Violation . The author claims that this bill seeks to close a loophole and make the provisions of AB 3628 that apply to limousines also applicable to buses. But it is unclear if any provision of that bill has effectively curbed underage drinking in charter party carriers. That bill was intended to make limousine drivers subject to CPUC penalties after an open container conviction, but not a single open container conviction has ever been reported to the CPUC and not a single penalty has been imposed in 20 plus years. This bill in its current form would make the driver of a bus subject to this same open container violation if any passenger is under 21 years of age, would require a court to report to the CPUC any bus driver conviction under the open container law, and authorize the CPUC to assess penalties. However, the author indicates that he plans to amend the bill to delete the provisions that would make a bus driver subject to an open container violation if any passenger is under 21 years of age. Thus, without this change in current law, the open container law would not apply to a bus driver, and there would be no potential violation that could trigger the CPUC assessing penalties on a bus driver. The changes in law that would remain in the bill relate to bus and limousine driver obligations during a trip. 3. Focus on Party Buses . This bill seeks to make drivers of buses subject to the same requirements during a trip that apply to limousine drivers - checking identification and requiring passengers under 21 to sign a statement, and, if a person under 21 years of age is found to have been drinking, terminating the trip and returning the underage passenger to the point of origin or another location. Given that the only distinction in the law between a limousine and a bus is the number of seats in the vehicle, and that either vehicle could be a "party bus" where underage drinking occurs, requiring only drivers of limousines to comply is arbitrary. Thus, the bill seeks to focus on party buses by applying these requirements only "when the driver knows, or has reasonable reason to believe, that alcoholic beverages are, or will be transported on the bus and accessible to passengers." In theory, this will excuse the driver from checking IDs and collecting signed statements for a Little League or church group where drinking is not likely but will ensure that these steps are taken when a trip obviously includes drinking. 4. Monitoring Underage Passengers . Unlike checking IDs and collecting signed statements of minors, which are required before a trip begins, the driver's obligation to determine if an underage person subsequently drinks during a bus ride raises concerns, especially in larger buses with up to 55 passengers. Bus companies claim that it will be an impossible task for a driver to keep track of which passengers are underage and whether they are drinking while also safely driving the bus. 5. Ending the Trip . Current law requires that, if a limousine driver finds an underage passenger to have been drinking, to terminate the trip and return that passenger to the point of origin of the ride. This bill applies that obligation to bus drivers as well but gives both limousine and bus drivers the option to drop the passenger off at his or her home, nearest police station, or any other point mutually agreed to by both parties, as long as the conditions are safe for the driver. This obligation may present practical problems. Returning an underage passenger to the trip's point of origin or other location necessarily means all passengers come along, which is especially problematic for large buses on long-distance trips, and even more so if multiple groups paid for passage on the bus. For example, an all-adult group on a charter bus from the Central Valley to a World Series game in San Francisco may be more than a little miffed if the bus is suddenly turning around to return home because another group on the same bus included a minor who somehow got drunk. Moreover, as the tragic death of Brett Studebaker shows, the safety of a person who has been drinking excessively is not guaranteed merely by getting them off the bus. 6. Double Referral . Should this bill be approved by the committee, it should be re-referred to the Senate Committee on Public Safety for its consideration. ASSEMBLY VOTES Assembly Floor (70-0) Assembly Appropriations Committee (17-0) Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee (15-0) POSITIONS Sponsor: Author Support: California Narcotic Officers' Association California Police Chiefs Association California Public Utilities Commission California State Sheriffs' Association (in concept) EF International Language Schools Greater California Livery Association Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Mothers Against Drunk Driving National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence - Orange County State Public Affairs Committee - Junior Leagues of California Oppose: Amador Stage Lines Coach America/San Francisco Great American Stage H & L Charter Co., Inc. Lancer Insurance Company Orange Belt Stages Pacific Coachways Charter Services, Inc. Pacific Monarch Ltd. Sundance Stage Lines, Inc. VIA Trailways Jacqueline Kinney AB 45 Analysis Hearing Date: June 21, 2011