Senate Bill No. 14
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Introduced February 10, 1993;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section nineteen, article sixteen,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; to amend and reenact
section twenty-four, article three-a, chapter sixty of said
code; and to amend and reenact section twenty-a, article
eight of said chapter, all relating to prohibiting minors
from purchasing or consuming alcoholic liquor, wine or
nonintoxicating beer; prohibiting minors from serving
alcoholic liquor, wine or nonintoxicating beer without adult
supervision; and providing penalties for violations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nineteen, article sixteen, chapter eleven of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted; that section twenty-four,
article three-a, chapter sixty of said code be amended and
reenacted; and that section twenty-a, article eight of said
chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.
ARTICLE 16. NONINTOXICATING BEER.
§11-16-19. Unlawful acts of persons; criminal penalties.
(a) No person under the age of twenty-one years may purchase
or consume nonintoxicating beer and no person under the age of
twenty-one years may possess or serve nonintoxicating beer
without the direct supervision of a person over the age of
twenty-one years. Any person under the age of twenty-one years
who purchases or consumes nonintoxicating beer and any person
under the age of twenty-one years who possesses or serves
nonintoxicating beer without the direct supervision of a person
over the age of twenty-one years is guilty of a misdemeanor, and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an amount not to
exceed fifty dollars or shall be imprisoned 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 imprisonment, may, for
the first offense, be placed on probation for a period not to
exceed one year.
(a) (b) Any person under the age of twenty-one years who,
for the purpose of purchasing nonintoxicating beer, 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, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed
fifty dollars or shall be imprisoned in the county jail for aperiod 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.
(b) (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.
(c) (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 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 theprovisions 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.
CHAPTER 60. ALCOHOL BEVERAGE CONTROL.
ARTICLE 3A. SALES BY RETAIL LIQUOR LICENSEES.
§60-3A-24. Unlawful acts by persons.
(a) No person under the age of twenty-one years may purchase
or consume alcoholic liquor and no person under the age of
twenty-one years may possess or serve alcoholic liquor without
the direct supervision of a person over the age of twenty-one
years. Any person under the age of twenty-one years who
purchases or consumes alcoholic liquor and any person under the
age of twenty-one years who possesses or serves alcoholic liquor
without the direct supervision of a person over the age of
twenty-one years is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed fifty dollars
or shall be imprisoned 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 imprisonment, may, for the first offense,
be placed on probation for a period not to exceed one year.
(a) (b) Any person under the age of twenty-one years who,for the purpose of purchasing liquor from a retail licensee,
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 liquor from a retail licensee, is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an
amount not to exceed fifty dollars or imprisoned 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 imprisonment, may,
for the first offense, be placed on probation for a period not
exceeding one year.
(b) (c) Any person who knowingly buys for, gives to or
furnishes to anyone under the age of twenty-one to whom he or she
is not related by blood or marriage any liquor from whatever
source, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction
thereof, be fined in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars
or imprisoned in the county jail for a period not to exceed ten
days, or both fined and imprisoned.
(c) (d) No person while on the premises of a retail outlet
may consume liquor or break the seal on any package or bottle of
liquor. Any person who violates the provisions of this
subsection
(c) (d) is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon
conviction thereof, be fined in an amount not to exceed one
hundred dollars or imprisoned in the county jail for a period not
to exceed ten days, or both fined and imprisoned.
ARTICLE 8. SALE OF WINES.
§60-8-20a. Unlawful acts by persons.
(a) No person under the age of twenty-one years may purchase
or consume wine or other alcoholic liquor and no person under the
age of twenty-one years may possess or serve wine or other
alcoholic liquor without the direct supervision of a person over
the age of twenty-one years. Any person under the age of twenty-
one years who purchases or consumes wine or other alcoholic
liquor and any person under the age of twenty-one years who
possesses or serves wine or other alcoholic liquor without the
direct supervision of a person over the age of twenty-one years
is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall
be fined in an amount not to exceed fifty dollars or shall be
imprisoned 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 imprisonment, may, for the first offense, be placed
on probation for a period not to exceed one year.
(a) (b) Any person under the age of twenty-one years who,
for the purpose of purchasing wine or other alcoholic liquors
from a licensee, 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 wine or other alcoholic liquors,
is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall
be fined in an amount not to exceed fifty dollars or shall be
imprisoned in the county jail for a period not to exceed seventy-
two hours, or both such fine and imprisonment, or, in lieu ofsuch fine and imprisonment, may, for the first offense, be placed
on probation for a period not exceeding one year.
(b) (c) Any person who shall knowingly buy for, give to or
furnish wine or other alcoholic liquors from any source 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make the purchase and
consumption of alcoholic liquors, wine and nonintoxicating beer
by persons under the age of twenty-one years a misdemeanor; to
require direct adult supervision of minors who are in possession
of or who serve alcoholic liquors, wine or nonintoxicating beer;
and to provide penalties for violations.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.