BILL NUMBER: AB 1128 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Salas
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Section 25658 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to alcoholic beverages.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1128, as introduced, Salas. Alcoholic beverages: underage
drinking.
Existing law provides that every person who purchases any
alcoholic beverage for, or furnishes, gives, or gives away any
alcoholic beverage to, a person under 21 years of age who thereafter
consumes the alcohol and then causes great bodily injury or death to
himself, herself, or any other person is guilty of a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of $1,000 and community service.
This bill would include, in this provision, a person who sells any
alcoholic beverage to a person under 21 years of age and would
provide that a violation of the prohibition is punishable as a
felony. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25658 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
25658. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (c), every
person who sells, furnishes, gives, or causes to be sold, furnished,
or given away any alcoholic beverage to any person under 21 years of
age is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) Except as provided in Section 25667, any person under 21 years
of age who purchases any alcoholic beverage, or any person under 21
years of age who consumes any alcoholic beverage in any on-sale
premises, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(c) Any person who violates subdivision (a) by selling to,
purchasing any alcoholic beverage for, or furnishing, giving,
or giving away any alcoholic beverage to, a person under 21 years of
age, and the person under 21 years of age thereafter consumes the
alcohol and thereby proximately causes great bodily injury or death
to himself, herself, or any other person, is guilty of either
a misdemeanor or a felony .
(d) Any on-sale licensee who knowingly permits a person under 21
years of age to consume any alcoholic beverage in the on-sale
premises, whether or not the licensee has knowledge that the person
is under 21 years of age, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(e) (1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2) or (3), or
Section 25667, any person who violates this section shall be punished
by a fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250), no part of which
shall be suspended, or the person shall be required to perform not
less than 24 hours or more than 32 hours of community service during
hours when the person is not employed and is not attending school, or
a combination of a fine and community service as determined by the
court. A second or subsequent violation of subdivision (b), where
prosecution of the previous violation was not barred pursuant to
Section 25667, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five
hundred dollars ($500), or the person shall be required to perform
not less than 36 hours or more than 48 hours of community service
during hours when the person is not employed and is not attending
school, or a combination of a fine and community service as
determined by the court. It is the intent of the Legislature that the
community service requirements prescribed in this section require
service at an alcohol or drug treatment program or facility or at a
county coroner's office, if available, in the area where the
violation occurred or where the person resides.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), any person who violates
subdivision (a) by furnishing an alcoholic beverage, or causing an
alcoholic beverage to be furnished, to a minor shall be punished by a
fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), no part of which shall be
suspended, and the person shall be required to perform not less than
24 hours of community service during hours when the person is not
employed and is not attending school.
(3) Any person who violates subdivision (c) shall be punished by
either imprisonment in a county jail for a minimum term of
six months not to exceed one year, by a fine of one thousand dollars
($1,000), or by both imprisonment and fine , or as
described in Section 25618 .
(f) Persons under 21 years of age may be used by peace officers in
the enforcement of this section to apprehend licensees, or employees
or agents of licensees, or other persons who sell or furnish
alcoholic beverages to minors. Notwithstanding subdivision (b), any
person under 21 years of age who purchases or attempts to purchase
any alcoholic beverage while under the direction of a peace officer
is immune from prosecution for that purchase or attempt to purchase
an alcoholic beverage. Guidelines with respect to the use of persons
under 21 years of age as decoys shall be adopted and published by the
department in accordance with the rulemaking portion of the
Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section
11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
Law enforcement-initiated minor decoy programs in operation prior to
the effective date of regulatory guidelines adopted by the department
shall be authorized as long as the minor decoy displays to the
seller of alcoholic beverages the appearance of a person under 21
years of age. This subdivision shall not be construed to prevent the
department from taking disciplinary action against a licensee who
sells alcoholic beverages to a minor decoy prior to the department's
final adoption of regulatory guidelines. After the completion of
every minor decoy program performed under this subdivision, the law
enforcement agency using the decoy shall notify licensees within 72
hours of the results of the program. When the use of a minor decoy
results in the issuance of a citation, the notification required
shall be given to licensees and the department within 72 hours of the
issuance of the citation. A law enforcement agency may comply with
this requirement by leaving a written notice at the licensed premises
addressed to the licensee, or by mailing a notice addressed to the
licensee.
(g) The penalties imposed by this section do not preclude
prosecution or the imposition of penalties under any other provision
of law, including, but not limited to, Section 272 of the Penal Code
and Section 13202.5 of the Vehicle Code.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.