Social Host Ordinance

A local ordinance that establishes either a civil or criminal offense for a person who provides alcohol to persons under 21 years of age and enables law enforcement to cite the individual who hosted the party or who owns or controls the property where parties occur. These responsible individuals may include older peers, parents, landowners and tenants. These ordinances are specifically directed at adults who might dismiss the state laws concerning underage drinking, health- related warnings, insist on serving minors, host parties and/or look the other way when others host on their property. The intent is not to seek out and punish adults who are regularly monitoring their children and who take reasonable precautions to prevent their children from hosting underage parties.