H. B. 2615
(By Delegates Douglas and Staton)
[Introduced March 17, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections twelve and twelve-a, article
seven, chapter sixty of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
state control of alcoholic liquor; certain acts of licensee
prohibited related to persons under the age of twenty-one
years; unlawful acts by persons under the age of twenty-one
years; and providing criminal penalties for violations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections twelve and twelve-a, article seven, chapter
sixty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 7. LICENSES TO PRIVATE CLUBS.
§60-7-12. Certain acts of licensee prohibited; criminal
penalties.
(a) It shall be is unlawful for any licensee, or agent,
employee or member thereof, on such licensee's premises to:
(1) Sell or offer for sale any alcoholic liquors other than
from the original package or container;
(2) Authorize or permit any disturbance of the peace;
obscene, lewd, immoral or improper entertainment, conduct or
practice; gambling or any slot machine, multiple coin console
machine, multiple coin console slot machine or device in the
nature of a slot machine;
(3) Sell, give away or permit the sale of, gift to or the
procurement of any nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic
liquors for or to, or permit the consumption of nonintoxicating
beer, wine or alcoholic liquors on the licensee's premises, by
any person less than twenty-one years of age;
(4) Sell, give away or permit the sale of, gift to or the
procurement of any nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic
liquors, for or to any mental person known to be deemed legally
incompetent, or for a or to any person who is physically
incapacitated due to consumption of alcoholic liquor or the use
of drugs;
(5) Sell, give or dispense nonintoxicating beer, wine or
alcoholic liquors in or on any licensed premises or in any rooms
directly connected therewith, between the hours of three o'clock
a.m. and one o'clock p.m. on any Sunday;
(6) Permit the consumption by, or serve to, on the licensed
premises any nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic liquors,
covered by this article, to any person who is less than twenty-
one years of age;
(7) With the intent to defraud, alter, change or
misrepresent the quality, quantity or brand name of any alcoholic
liquor;
(8) Sell or offer for sale any alcoholic liquor to any
person who is not a duly elected or approved dues paying member
in good standing of said private club or a guest of such member;
(9) Permit Employ any person who is less than eighteen
twenty-one years of age, in a position where the primary
responsibility for such employment is to sell, furnish or give
nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic liquors to any person; or
(10) Violate any reasonable rule or regulation of the
commissioner.
(b) It shall further be is unlawful for any licensee to
advertise in any news media or other means, outside of the
licensee's premises, the fact that alcoholic liquors may be
purchased thereat.
(c) Any person who violates any of the foregoing provisions
shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be punished by a fine of fined not less than one
five hundred dollars nor more than five hundred one thousand
dollars, or by imprisonment imprisoned in the county jail for a
period not to exceed one year, or by both fine and imprisonment
fined and imprisoned.
(d) However, no permit holder, his agent or employee may be
found guilty of a violation of any section of this chapter or any
rule of the commissioner in which age is an element of theoffense, if the commissioner or any court of record finds all of
the following:
(1) That the person exhibited to the licensee, his agent or
employee a driver's or commercial driver's license or an
identification card showing that the person making a purchase was
then of legal age to buy nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic
liquors;
(2) That the licensee, his agent or employee made a bona
fide effort to ascertain the true age of the person making a
purchase by checking the identification presented at the time of
the purchase to ascertain that the description on the
identification compared with the appearance of the buyer and that
the identification presented had not been altered in any way; and
(3) That the licensee, his agent or employee had reason to
believe that the person making a purchase was of legal age.
§60-7-12a. Unlawful acts by persons.
(a) A person under the age of twenty-one years may not
order, pay for, share the cost of or attempt to purchase any
nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic liquors, or consume any
nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic liquors or possess any
nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic liquors. Any person
under the age of twenty-one years who violates any provisions of
this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed five hundred
dollars or imprisoned in the county jail for a period not to
exceed seventy-two hours, or both fined and imprisoned, and, inaddition to such fine and imprisonment, may, for the first
offense, be placed on probation for a period not to exceed one
year.
(b) Any person under the age of twenty-one years who, for
the purpose of purchasing nonintoxicating beer, wine, or
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 nonintoxicating beer, wine,
or alcoholic liquors from a licensee, is guilty of a misdemeanor,
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an amount not to
exceed fifty five hundred dollars or imprisoned in the county
jail for a period not to exceed seventy-two hours, or both fined
and imprisoned, and in addition to fine and imprisonment, may,
for the first offense, be placed on probation for a period not to
exceed one year.
(c) Any person who shall knowingly buy buys for, give gives
to or furnish furnishes to anyone under the age of twenty-one, to
whom they are not related by blood or marriage any
nonintoxicating beer, wine or alcoholic liquors purchased from a
licensee, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction
thereof, be fined in an amount not to exceed one more than five
hundred dollars, or shall be imprisoned in the county jail for a
period not to exceed more than ten days, or both such fine and
imprisonment fined and imprisoned.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to regulate the sale of
beer, wine or alcoholic liquors to persons under the age of
twenty-one years.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.