Suffolk County Legislature passes social host law

Long Island Business News, Dec 4, 2007 by Gregory Zeller

Suffolk parents be warned: Knowingly allow minors to consume alcohol in your home, and you run afoul of the law.

By a 12-2 vote with four abstentions, the Suffolk County Legislature approved a "social host" law designed to "deter the consumption of alcohol by minors," according to Legis. Ricardo Montano, who sponsored the bill. Similar to a measure enacted unanimously in July by the Nassau County Legislature, Suffolk's new ordinance targets people over 18 who own or rent a private residence and "knowingly allow the consumption of ... alcoholic beverages by any minor on such premises or fail to take reasonable corrective action" when underage boozing is afoot.

Such "reasonable corrective action" includes demanding the minor forfeit the alcohol and refrain from further consumption, and promptly reporting the incident to local law enforcement.

County Executive Steve Levy has 30 days to sign the bill - and he must hold a public hearing before doing so.

Comparable laws already exist in Glen Cove and Amityville, as well as several California cities and the states of Virginia and Nebraska. The Nassau law contains similar language, although Suffolk's penalties are more lenient - the first two infractions are violations and the third is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison, while in Nassau the first offense is a misdemeanor, with penalties rising from there.

"They're a little harsher in Nassau," Montano said. "I didn't feel it was necessary to come out of the box with a misdemeanor conviction."

That's an example of the ambiguity that's turned what may sound like a legal slam-dunk into a political hot potato. The idea in Nassau, Suffolk and everywhere else is to curb underage drinking, but whether such laws actually do that - and if they don't, whether they should even exist - is debatable.

Prior to Monday's vote, Suffolk Legis. Jon Cooper said he'd discussed the proposed legislation with several constituents and found the measure's supporters and detractors were "pretty much evenly split."

"They're all dedicated, loving parents, but there are two different mindsets," Cooper said. "About half of them support the social host law... but about half took the opposite view, and their concern was more about the safety of their children.

"Their argument was, 'Look, kids are kids and 18- and 19-year- olds are going to drink beer,'" he added. "So the question is, where are they going to drink? Some said they would rather their sons or daughters and their friends drink at their house, because they're responsible parents and if the kids drink too much, they can take their keys or have them sleep over or call them a taxi."

If they're not in the house, the argument goes, the kids are still going to drink - but they'll do it in a park or a local bar, with a "greater likelihood that they'll drive drunk afterwards," Cooper said.

His concern, therefore, is "whether this is just a feel-good law that will do more harm than good," and with only hours to go before Monday's vote, even Cooper was unsure how he'd vote. He later decided to abstain.

Montano countered by characterizing Cooper's concerns as "la-la- land" and "nowhere on the chart."

"That's not reality," Montano said. "(Underage drinking) is a crime, no matter what, and we're not going to sanction that."

It's too soon to say if the Nassau law has had an effect on underage drinking in private residences, but Robin Charlow's educated guess is it will, and so will Suffolk's.

"It's hard for me to imagine that they won't," said Charlow, a professor and criminal law expert at the Hofstra School of Law "Maybe not with regards to what people do with their own children, but it's hard for me to accept that the average parent would not care about being responsible about other people's children.

"If you're subject to even a misdemeanor conviction, that can mean jail time," Charlow added. "It's hard to believe people aren't going to care about that."

Just how effective these "social host" laws are depends largely on government's ability to implement them, Charlow said. "The biggest question ... is based on how the police enforce them," she said, "more than just having them on the books."

Montano suggested that merely passing the law was an important step, and a clear statement about Suffolk's opinions on underage drinking.

"We're not going to station police officers in people's homes," the legislator said. "But at the same time, we went to send a message to everyone: Underage drinking is a social issue and we won't tolerate it."