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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Bob
Caton |
State Rep. Todd Eachus |
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Eachus calls for tougher penalties
when adults provide alcohol to minors
HARRISBURG, Feb. 28 – State Rep. Todd Eachus announced the introduction of legislation that would sharply increase penalties for adults who provide alcohol to minors when injuries are caused due to the minor’s consumption of alcohol.
“There’s a reason the legal drinking age is 21,” Eachus said. “An underage person is already breaking the law and probably isn’t considering all the possible consequences of drinking, like causing injuries or even death to themselves or others. It’s clearly not enough to just say ‘the person of legal drinking age should know better,’ because we still see incident after incident where underage drinkers are involved in car accidents or assaults.
“Under my proposal, House Bill 570, an adult providing or selling alcohol to a minor would be at risk for much more than a fine when that minor is involved in an incident that causes injury to themselves or another. In extreme cases where someone is killed due to underage drinking, the person providing the alcohol would face felony criminal charges.”
Eachus said that House Bill 570 would set a graduated scale for penalties based on the level of injuries:
- if a minor suffers bodily injury or causes another person to suffer bodily injury as a result of consuming alcohol, the person who provided the alcohol would face a second-degree misdemeanor charge;
- serious bodily injury would result in a first-degree misdemeanor charge;
- a fatality would result in a third-degree felony charge.
“There is simply no excuse for giving alcohol to anyone underage when the effects and the dangers are so well-known,” Eachus said. “With my proposal, misguided adults would have another reason to say ‘no’ when a minor wants alcohol – staying out of jail.”
The legislation has earned support from more than 30 bipartisan co-sponsors and is similar to a proposal Eachus introduced in 2004 that passed the House unanimously but was never brought up for a vote in the Senate.
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