H. B. 2432
(By Delegates Walters and Wakim)
[Introduced
February 16, 2005
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-16-19 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the misrepresentation of age and
use of false identification to purchase alcoholic liquor,
nonintoxicating beer or tobacco products; requiring
establishments to post signs warning of the penalty for use of
false identification; and criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-16-19 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 16. NONINTOXICATING BEER.
§11-16-19. Unlawful acts of persons; criminal penalties.
(a) Any person under the age of twenty-one years who
purchases, consumes, sells, possesses or serves nonintoxicating
beer is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall
be fined in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars or shall be incarcerated in
the county jail for a period not to exceed
seventy-two hours, or both fined and imprisoned, or, in lieu of
such fine and incarceration, may, for the first offense, be placed
on probation for a period not to exceed one year.
Nothing in this article, nor any rule or regulation of the
Commissioner, shall prevent or be deemed considered to prohibit any
person who is at least eighteen years of age from serving in the
lawful employment of any licensee, which may include the sale or
delivery of nonintoxicating beer as defined in this article.
Further, nothing in this article, nor any rule or regulation of the
Commissioner, shall prevent or be deemed to prohibit any person who
is less than eighteen but at least sixteen years of age from being
employed by a licensee whose principal business is the sale of food
or consumer goods or the providing of recreational activities,
including, but not limited to, nationally franchised fast food
outlets, family-oriented restaurants, bowling alleys, drug stores,
discount stores, grocery stores and convenience stores: Provided,
That such person shall not sell or deliver nonintoxicating beer.
Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a person who is at
least eighteen years of age from purchasing or possessing
nonintoxicating beer when he or she is acting upon the request of
or under the direction and control of any member of a state,
federal or local law-enforcement agency or the West Virginia
alcohol beverage administration while the agency is conducting an investigation or other activity relating to the enforcement of the
alcohol beverage control statutes and the rules
and regulations of
the Commissioner.
(b) Any person under the age of twenty-one years who, for the
purpose of purchasing nonintoxicating beer or any tobacco product,
misrepresents his or her age, or who for such purpose presents or
offers any written evidence of age which is false, fraudulent or
not actually his or her own, or who illegally attempts to purchase
nonintoxicating beer or any tobacco product, is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an
amount not to exceed fifty dollars or shall may be imprisoned in
the county jail for a period not to exceed seventy-two hours, or
both such fine and imprisonment, or, in lieu of such fine and
imprisonment, may, for the first offense, be placed on probation
for a period not exceeding one year.
(c) Any person who shall knowingly buy for, give to or furnish
nonintoxicating beer to anyone under the age of twenty-one to
whom they are not related by blood or marriage is guilty of a
misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in an
amount not to exceed one hundred dollars or shall be imprisoned in
the county jail for a period not to exceed ten days, or both such
fine and imprisonment.
(d) Any person who at any one time transports into the state
for their personal use, and not for resale, more than six and seventy-five hundredths gallons of nonintoxicating beer, upon which
the West Virginia barrel tax has not been imposed, shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in an
amount not to exceed one hundred dollars and have all the untaxed
nonintoxicating beer in their possession at the time of the arrest
confiscated, or
be imprisoned for ten days in
the county jail, or
both fined and imprisoned.
If the Congress of the United States repeals the mandate
established by the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982,
relating to national uniform drinking age of twenty-one as found in
section six of Public Law 98-363, or a court of competent
jurisdiction declares the provision to be unconstitutional or
otherwise invalid, it is the intent of the Legislature that the
provisions contained in this section and section eighteen of this
article which prohibit the sale, furnishing, giving, purchase or
ownership of nonintoxicating beer to or by a person who is less
than twenty-one years of age shall be null and void and the
provisions therein shall thereafter remain in effect and apply to
the sale, furnishing, giving, purchase or ownership of
nonintoxicating beer to or by a person who is less than nineteen
years of age.
In addition to the posting of the informational sign required
by the provisions of section twenty-four, article six, chapter
sixty of this code containing information showing the estimated percent of alcohol in the blood by the number of drinks in relation
to body weight and time of consumption, any facility or business
selling alcoholic beverages or nonintoxicating beer or tobacco
products shall post in an open and prominent place within the
facility or establishment a notice informing minors that
identification is required to purchase alcoholic beverages or
nonintoxicating beer or tobacco products and that use of false
identification is a misdemeanor, as follows:
ATTENTION MINORS
IDENTIFICATION IS REQUIRED
IF YOU ARE UNDER 21 YEARS OF AGE
YOU ARE SUBJECT TO A FINE OF
$50 AND/OR 72 HOURS OF COURT MANDATED COMMUNITY SERVICE
OR BOTH FINED AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
FOR:
1. Falsely stating your age or using false ID
to obtain liquor, beer or tobacco products.
2. Buying or attempting to buy liquor or beer
or tobacco products.
PLEASE
DON'T ATTEMPT
TO PURCHASE
ALCOHOL OR BEER OR TOBACCO PRODUCTS
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require businesses
selling alcoholic liquors, nonintoxicating beer or tobacco products
to post signs warning minors that it is illegal to buy or attempt
to buy these products using false identification.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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