Social Host Liability

Summary

Access to alcohol and other drugs are associated with an increase in community problems.

Research indicates that most underage drinking takes place in private settings such as home parties. Social host laws and teen party ordinances can be used to reduce the social availability of alcohol and other drugs by combating these types of parties.

Social host liability laws hold individuals (in non-commercial environments) responsible for underage drinking events on property they own, lease or otherwise control. Depending on the state and local jurisdiction, the hosting of a party on private property at which an underage drinker becomes intoxicated could result in three distinct types of liability against the social host: social host criminal liability, social host civil liability, and recovery of response costs.

In 2014, Iowa passed a statewide Social Host law. This policy includes the following:

123.47 Section 1

A “Social Host violation” is defined: A person who is the owner, is leasing, or has control over property that is not a licensed premise, who knowingly permits a person to consume or possess any alcohol on the property if they know or have reasonable cause to believe the person to be under the age of eighteen.

Exceptions: This does not apply to the landlord or manager of the property. This also does not apply to a social host of a person under legal age who consumes or possesses alcohol in connection with a religious observance, ceremony or right.

Penalties: A person who violates this subsection commits the following:
(1) For a first offense, a simple misdemeanor punishable as a scheduled violation under section 805.8C, subsection 7A (The scheduled fine is $200).
(2) For a second or subsequent offense, a simple misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $500.

123.47 Section 2

Underage possession or consumption of alcohol: In addition to prohibiting purchase, attempts to purchase, and possession, the law now also prohibits consumption for those under the legal age of 21. (NEW)

Exceptions for parental presence and consent within a private home and medicinal purposes have not changed.

Penalties and Notification requirements have not changed.

There is no Preemption in this state law. What that means is a county or a city can go beyond or be stricter than this law.

As with all strategies that focus on policy change, enforcement should always be considered as a critical, parallel strategy. Effective deterrence increases the perception that those who violate the policy will be held accountable. This increases the probability that policy change will result in desired outcomes.

Core Components

Dosage/Frequency

At least 50% of a population of focus should be impacted by policy change by the end of the project period.

Required Key Steps

All policies developed or strengthened through this strategy must be formally written, signed by the community leadership and then provided to the Agency as documentation. Contact the Agency Project Director/Coordinator for additional grant requirements about this documentation.

Through most Agency funded projects, communities can choose to pass social host ordinances that are stricter than state law.

In collaboration with the coalition, discuss/complete the following:

• Assess what the community needs and issues are around underage drinking parties on private property.
• Determine whether communities have any social host ordinances in place, if the ordinances are helping reduce underage drinking parties and if the ordinances are being enforced.
  • Discuss loopholes in current ordinances that need strengthening.
  • Discuss whether there are challenges around enforcement (lack of resources, low staffing, lack of community support for enforcement, etc.).
  • Discuss if new ordinances need to be created. If so, which locations and the readiness of the leadership to pass a social host ordinance.
• Decide on a social host ordinance that can include:
  • Social host civil liability holds social hosts potentially responsible for the injuries to third parties caused by guests whom the hosts had served or had allowed to consume alcoholic beverages. According to Model Social Host Liability Ordinance, this form of liability, which can be imposed by either statutes or common law negligence principles, involves private
    litigation and comes into play only if an injured third party decides to sue the social host. Only the state legislature or state courts (as opposed to city and county governments) have the authority to impose this form of civil liability.
• City or county criminal infractions is when social hosting is treated as a crime but as a lesser crime generally only allowing for a monetary fine as opposed to any jail time.
• City or county criminal misdemeanors are generally defined as an ordinance violation and treats social host liability as a misdemeanor imposing possible jail time as a penalty.
• City or county civil or administrative citation ordinances holds people who own, lease or otherwise control the property are civilly responsible for civil or administrative penalties.
• City or county response costs recovery holds social hosts (including tenants) and landowners (including landlords) civilly responsible for the costs of law enforcement, fire or other emergency response services associated with multiple responses to the scene of an underage drinking party or other gathering occurring on private property, whether or not the hosts or landowners had knowledge of the occurrence of the parties or gatherings. This type of ordinance can be the basis for a powerful new legal tool to deter underage drinking parties and other gatherings in communities.

Draft a social host ordinance.

• Consult with the City or County Attorney in writing the ordinance.
• Review other model social host ordinances and provide examples to the City/County Attorney.
  • Discuss with the City or County Attorney’s their interpretation of state law and to ensure a local ordinance is stricter than state law.

Capacity Building

Create a capacity building plan to continually engage strategy stakeholders. Some ideas include:

• Build support for this strategy from community members and law enforcement. Focus on how social hosting can lead to alcohol-related problems.
• Provide regular face-to-face visits to promote the strategy and educate community leadership about strengthening or creating alcohol policies in public places.
• Attend a Board of Supervisors or City Council meeting to discuss the strategy.
• Find communities in the county or in a neighboring county with a strong social host ordinance in place and share contact information/details about their policies with community leadership.

Once an ordinance had passed:

• Create a plan to educate the community about the ordinance.
• Create a plan that will ensure ongoing monitoring of use and enforcement of the ordinance.

Implementation Materials

SAMHSA Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit
Sample Social Host Accountability Municipal Ordinances
Social Host Liability Community Action Toolkit

References

Goldberg, J. M. (1992). Social host liability for serving alcohol. Trial, 31-33.

Jones-Webb, R., Toomey, T., Miner, K., Wagenaar, A. C., Wolfson, M., & Poon, R. (1997). Why and in what context adolescents obtain alcohol from adults: A pilot study. Substance Use & Misuse, 32(2), 219-228. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826089709027310

Wagenaar, A. C., Toomey, T. L., Murray, D. M., Short, B. J., Wolfson, M., & Jones-Webb, R. (1996). Sources of alcohol for underage drinkers. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 57(3), 325-333. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.1996.57.325