The Fourth StrikeEssay Preview: The Fourth StrikeReport this essayThe Fourth StrikeIn Joe Rodriguezs article “Kids and Alcohol Dont Mix,” Rodriguez states that the new proposed legislation introduced by Senator Dede Alpert will make it “extremely difficult to close down retailers who consistently sell booze to minors.” I completely agree with Rodriguezs point of view because it will make it easier for retailers to continue illegally selling their products to minors by allowing a “fourth strike.”
In California, the law allows the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to take any retailers license after “three strikes” of selling alcohol to minors in three years. The new proposed law would allow one of the strikes to be taken away if the retailers train their employees to “check IDs and install electronic scanners” to read IDs and spot fakes. I feel that this new proposed law is too forgiving since it gives this unofficial “fourth strike” for retailers to continue selling alcohol to minors. According to testimony given to the California Council, Alpert claimed this bill was a “prevention bill, however, I feel this is not even close to a prevention bill at all, but an undermining of local prevention efforts to alcohol enforcement groups.
The petition to pass legislation was filed as part of a group of people who wanted a bill to end alcohol-related deaths in Kern County. As this video demonstrates, Kern has a history of fighting to legalize marijuana, which at the time allowed for people to live off the city’s own taxes. In October 2011, Governor Jerry Brown approved a bill to reduce the amount of alcohol sold by two tablespoons to three teaspoons, despite opposition by a majority of voters in the state Senate. A second attempt to pass such legislation was tabled just days after Brown’s veto, but it failed to gain passage in the state Assembly due to a lack of the Democratic support. But the law was still on the books on January 0, 2012. In a letter to the governor, Assemblywoman Beth Eakin said that the number of alcohol-related deaths in Kern County has increased threefold in the past 30 years. Eakin’s position is consistent with some of those in K-12, and is supported by one of the most outspoken advocates in the public schools. In fact, she called the bill a “public health nightmare if the majority of Kern County school districts allow adult minors to buy the beer and wine.” (http://www.kern.gov/content/news/index.rss#.HWqwvKYuM9NhE.php) But it appears that the petition to reform the ballot in California has reached a certain threshold where the majority may consider ending such measures. As a California State Senator who is also pro-pot and opposes public education, Eakin had worked hard on legislation banning alcohol in school classrooms. After a long discussion with the Legislature’s Education and Human Services Committee, Eakin announced that she was working on some measures he thought would make sense. However, she was only able to pass Senate Bill 1222, which changed many of the same laws as the measure passed in 2012, and in order for Eakin to pass the bill, her bill would have to include a requirement that the students who received alcohol at the school’s cafeteria be licensed if they were found to commit a Class 3 offense. As a result, Eakin says that she is not happy with the changes in bill 1222.
“This amendment will have to include a state-wide school liquor license program and no minors or students at school participating in any of the school’s programs can legally purchase or open a private liquor shop,” Eakin wrote in the letter. Eakin’s position is consistent with several of the initiatives passed in California like the Healthy Drinking Project and the Marijuana Policy Alliance. The Healthy Drinking Project in 2011 passed the State Law on Legalized Liquor, but an attempt to pass Measure 1041, which was also defeated, failed with a resounding No votes. In February 2013, Assemblyman Rob Stokes (D-Chico) and Assemblymember Eric Hildreth (D-Kanawha) sponsored a bill that passed the Senate and became law. “We understand the concerns that were raised about this bill last September,” Hildreth said in a written statement. ”
One of the enforcement groups that will be undermined by the new bill would be the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. Prior to the proposed law, the ABCs system consisted of under cover minors who “go into stores and try to buy booze.” Once they catch a retailer who sells them alcohol, they immediately report them to the ABC. I agree with this approach because it puts the majority of the blame on the clerks of the retailers who sell to minors. The retailers serve as the ones most responsible because they are selling to minors and in a way; they have the role of the adult to minors when it comes to selling alcohol to adolescents. During my junior year, I attended a birthday get together with a couple of my buddies. What started was a very jubilant party, then turned into a night run to the liquor store. I remember being embarrassed after my friends pulled off the alcohol run after the clerk let my friends go off with the alcohol without any hesitation. I recall thinking how irresponsible the clerk was to let a bunch of seventeen year old boys off with alcohol and the dangers that it could entail.