In August, the City Council and mayor of Troy put into effect an ordinance in the Troy City Code titled “Chapter 130: Community Social Host and Underage Drinking.” This new social host law was enacted with the purpose of holding the hosts of parties responsible for underage drinking and any drug use that may occur under their watch.
Scott Morley, an attorney for the RPI Student Legal Services Program, elaborated on many of the technical implications of this new law in an e-mail. He said, “This law fills in the some of the gaps in the laws of N.Y. that govern alcoholic beverages and minors, but at a local code level.”
The law reads “No person having control of any premises shall allow an open house party to take place at said residence if such person knows or has reason to know that any alcoholic beverage or drug is being unlawfully possessed, served to, or consumed by a minor at said residence.”
Other social host laws have been popping up in cities and states throughout the United States, especially within the past few years. Though, often varying in severity, the laws are all similar in their hope to act as a deterrent for what has been suspected to be the most common mechanism of underage drinking—parties. As stated by Troy’s new ordinance, “The mayor and the City Council finds further that persons under the age of 21 often obtain alcoholic beverages or drugs at such gatherings and that persons who are in control of such premises know … ”
“[The RPI Student Legal Services Program has] represented two students in the last three weeks on this issue,” stated Morely. In terms of the ease of success of prosecutions, “ … you don’t need much. [For prosecution,] it would be enough to have only a statement by a minor saying where they got the alcohol,” Morley explained. Concluding that, “Our concern is that we’ll see a rash of these from students who are simply hosting parties and their under 21-year-old friends consume. Fortunately, we have seen this charge more than DWIs this semester.”
This social host law was adopted unanimously by the City Council on August 2, and was approved by the mayor on August 8. The maximum penalty allowed under the law is up to $1,000 and/or up to 15 days in prison.
