Changes in law would make it illegal to have alcohol at a party
where three or more underage drinkers are gathered
Morgan Hill – If you’re an adult and you host a party with three or more underage revelers and any of them are drinking alcohol you could face stiff penalties, according to proposed changes to the city’s municipal code.
Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming recommended Wednesday afternoon that the current $100 fine imposed on hosts of underage drinking parties be raised to an unspecified amount during a meeting of the city’s Public Safety and Community Services Committee at City Hall.
Right now the city doesn’t have a so-called “social host” law, which many municipalities have began adopting as they fight teen drinking and the wreckless provision of alcohol to minors by adults.
The changes being proposed would revise two sections of the municipal code that deal with the number of minors that can be gathered to consume alcohol and the penalties imposed when police authorities have to respond to break up the gatherings.
Cumming urged the committee to lower from 10 to four the number of underage drinkers at a party and that the ordinance language include parties at other locations besides private residences. He additionally asked the committee to expand the definition of “host” to include other individuals whether or not they live at the location of the gathering, parents or guardians whether or not they are present during the gatherings, landlords, managers and owners of commercial properties such as apartments, condominiums, hotels and motels.
He also asked for clarification of who bears the responsibility for emergency service fees when a second police response is necessary to control underage drinking parties.
This fall a group calling themselves the “Morgan Hill/San Martin Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership,” asked the committee to consider creating a “social host” ordinance. The ordinance the group proposed is based on one enacted in Ventura County and is one of many becoming common in some cities and counties in the state.
In short, the ordinance is intended to prevent alcohol fueled parties attended by underage drinkers by holding party hosts and property owners responsible through fines and impositions associated with the public safety costs to respond to these events.
Dina Campeau, a spokeswoman for the Morgan Hill/San Martin Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership, said parties where underage youth consume alcoholic beverages in private homes or motels are common in Morgan Hill.
In a memo to Morgan Hill City Manager Edward Tewes, Cumming said that police repond to between 15 and 20 large parties a year.
Current ordinance states that if 10 or more people under the age of 21 are gathered in a private residence, alcohol may not be served to those under 21. That means the law allows adults to provide alcohol to a crowd of less than 10 underage people gathered in a private residence.
Currently the first offense in Morgan Hill is punishable by a fine of $100, then increases with additional offenses. The Ventura County ordinance makes first violations punishable by a fine of $250, a second violation at the same residence or other private property within a 12-month period is punishable by $500, with a third violation punishable by $1,000.
The Morgan Hill Public Safety and Community Services Committee – which is made up of Cumming and Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate and City Councilmember Larry Carr – will make a recommendation to the full Morgan Hill City Council during its Jan. 17 meeting.
Tate said he agrees with Cumming’s recommendations, but he would like to see the number of underage drinkers required to make the ordinance enforceable lowered to three, rather than four.
If the council chooses to accept the recommendation of the committee, the city staff could be directed to conduct more research, and the city attorney asked to draft an amended ordinance.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Studies have shown that adolescents who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop an addiction than those who wait until the legal age of 21 or after.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@*************es.com.
