Months after social host law took effect, no citations issued - Maui News

No citations have been issued under a county law holding adult hosts accountable for underage drinking at house parties on Maui, more than six months since the measure was implemented.

The inaction follows questions about who will issue the citations and who will handle any appeals.

“Our coalition members are pretty disappointed,” said Andrea Snow, coordinator for the Maui Coalition for Drug-Free Youth, which advocated for the “social host” liability law. “We did a lot of community-based research to try and figure out how to address underage drinking since we do have elevated rates in the county. A lot of thought and intention went into creating this.”

Under the law, a “social host” citation is issued to the person responsible for the residence or property where there’s a gathering of underage drinkers. The responsible person can include a property owner, tenant or lessee. If the responsible person is a minor, their parents or legal guardians are liable.

A first violation carries a $200 fine, with fines increasing to $500 for a second violation and $1,000 for a third violation within 12 months. Additional violations within the same 12-month period may require reimbursement of police, fire or other emergency response service costs.

Snow said the coalition spent about four years doing research leading up to the law, with the goal of preventing and reducing illegal underage drinking.

Maui County youth drink more alcohol and binge drink at higher rates than in other counties in the state, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The survey showed that in Maui County, 30.8 percent of high school students and 11.6 percent of middle school students consume alcohol.

According to data collected by the state Education and Health departments, 56 percent of county high school students reported they had ever drank alcohol, compared with 50 percent statewide; 31 percent of high school students reported currently drinking, compared with 25 percent statewide; and 16 percent of high school students reported binge drinking, compared with 13 percent statewide. Nineteen percent of county youth had their first drink before age 13, compared with 17 percent statewide.

In a 2018 anonymous survey of 449 youth in Maui County, youth reported drinking most often at house parties, with nearly 74 percent of those attending such parties reporting that binge drinking occurs. Binge drinking was defined as five or more drinks in a row for males and four or more for females within a couple of hours.

Youth also reported that the drinking at parties led to physical fights, arrests, traffic crashes, alcohol poisoning and sexual assaults, according to the coalition.

While the state has a criminal social host law, Maui police reported they didn’t use the law because prosecution would require proving that adults intended to serve alcohol to underage youth, Snow said.

“They said it was too high a burden of proof, even when parents were providing alcohol in egregious circumstances,” she said.

Instead of being a criminal law, the new county ordinance is a civil violation resulting in a citation and a lower burden of proof, Snow said. She said the ordinance was written so police showing up at a house party would check identifications and determine whether minors had been drinking before issuing a citation.

In February 2021, the ordinance was unanimously approved by the Maui County Council. It took effect in September after the implementation date was delayed to give the Maui Police Department time to write administrative rules for carrying out the law and the Police Commission time to adopt appeals process rules.

At a June meeting, after the Police Commission was notified about its responsibility under the law, commissioners “were displeased” about not having been notified earlier and not having been given the opportunity to provide comments while the ordinance was being considered by the council, according to a letter to the council from Commission Chairman Frank De Rego.

“The appeals process proposed in this ordinance would now have the commission making judgments on members of the public — a major departure from its scope and focus on the police function and police misconduct within the community,” the letter said. It asked the council to have another board or commission hear the appeals.

At a meeting Jan. 4 of the Council’s Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee, Chairman Mike Molina, a key supporter of the social host bill, said police commissioners and others could have provided comments at several public meetings on the measure before it was passed.

“I still remember seeing those parents from Mothers Against Drunk Driving who lost their children due to alcohol-related matters,” Molina said. “Many young lives have been lost to this type of activity.”

The committee was considering an amendment to the law to make it clear that the Police Commission, rather than the police chief, would adopt rules for the appeals process.

The committee deferred action, with some members saying they wanted to discuss the matter further. No additional hearings have been scheduled.

While the previous police administration supported the law, Police Chief John Pelletier said at the committee meeting that the department didn’t have the manpower to enforce the ordinance and the department deals with “criminal issues, not civil issues.”

He also said two-thirds of the county was exempt from the law. “It has to be equal protection under the law for everyone,” Pelletier said.

While Molokai and Lanai had been included when the bill was proposed, council members from those islands asked for the exclusions.

At a Police Commission meeting Jan. 19, Pelletier said he couldn’t “enforce any law that I feel is not within the equal protection status within the constitution.”

“And when in two-thirds of this county, the law doesn’t apply, that means you’re telling me as long as you’re on this island, but not these two, this applies,” he said. “That’s like saying, for argument’s sake, ‘Well, because of your ethnic background, we can arrest you, but not you.’ So where you live now determines if we’re going to enforce a law or not?

“I’m not going to enforce anything that I think is unconstitutional.”

When a police commissioner asked Deputy Corporation Counsel Jennifer Oana for her opinion on whether the law is unconstitutional because it doesn’t include Molokai and Lanai, she said she couldn’t answer and that others had reviewed the law.

There are other laws that apply only to certain geographic areas.

On Oahu, a 2014 law prohibits people from sitting or lying on public sidewalks in Waikiki.

A Maui County law prohibits drinking in public in a historic district, including the Lahaina Historic District.

Snow said the coalition would continue on with its work.

“We’re not going to give up,” she said. “We’re hopeful that we can all find a solution and make our community safer.”

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at [email protected].

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source: https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2022/04/months-after-social-host-law-took-effect-no-citations-issued/

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