Pittsburg Council delays action on ordinance to help curb underage drinking
By Eve Mitchell, Contra Costa Times [original article link]
Posted: 05/20/2013 09:06:17 PM PDT
Updated: 05/20/2013 09:06:17 PM PDT
PITTSBURG -- The City Council postponed consideration of an ordinance that would fine parents when underage drinking occurs in the home.
A draft proposal for the social host ordinance that was up for a first reading at Monday night's meeting was apparently not ready to taken up by the council. It will now be revised and brought back at a later meeting, possibly as early as the council's next scheduled meeting on June 17.
The proposal is modeled after one that applies in unincorporated Contra Costa County that calls for adults who either provide alcohol or allow it to be consumed in the home or on other private property by three or more underage drinkers to be subject to a fine of up to $1,000, six months in the county jail, or both.
Those punishments will still apply when the revised proposal comes back to the council. In sending the draft proposal back for additional review, the council hopes for a stronger ordinance that will include ways for police to recover costs associated with having such an ordinance on the books.
The cities of Berkeley, Clayton, Concord, Pleasanton and San Ramon already have social host ordinances that are meant to hold parents accountable for underage drinking.
Such ordinances are viewed as a tool to help discourage underage drinking that can lead to unfortunate incidents such as automobile accidents, fighting and sexual assaults.
Nationwide, underage drinking is directly involved annually in the deaths of about 5,000 youths under the age of 21, and is linked to two-thirds of all sexual assaults, including date rape, according to the California State PTA.
Contact Eve Mitchell at 925-779-7189. Follow her on Twitter.com/EastCounty_Girl.
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