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Md. Senate approves tougher penalties for adults who allow underage drinking Harsher penalties for illegal drinking move forward in Maryland
(35 minutes later)
The Maryland Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a bill authorizing prison sentences for adults who provide alcohol to people who are underage or host a party where someone younger than 21 is drinking. Maryland’s House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a bill to require more convicted drunk drivers to use ignition locks — legislation the panel has blocked in the past but which has received new attention since the drunk-driving death of a police officer in December.
The legislation — drafted after a teenager got drunk at party in Montgomery County, crashed his car and killed two passengers — will now be debated in the House of Delegates. The bill has been introduced for the past seven years, but had never before been called for a vote by Del. Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince George’s), the judiciary committee chairman. Advocates have repeatedly blamed Vallario and Maryland’s strong alcohol lobby for the bill’s failure.
Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery), a sponsor of the bill in the Senate, said a “shocking” number of drunk-driving fatalities in Maryland, broad support from law enforcement agencies and emotional testimony by the father of slain Montgomery County Police Officer Noah Leotta made a difference this year.
“There has never been such broad sentiment for the interlock before,” Raskin said, using the name of the ignition-lock device. “There’s a growing sentiment that we have to stop being permissive about drunk driving and the alcohol-related crimes.”
[Ignition lock kept this Md. woman from driving drunk multiple times]
The bill will now go to the full House for consideration. The Senate version is scheduled for a hearing in the Judicial Proceedings Committee next week.
Under the bill, motorists convicted of driving at or above the state’s legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent would be required to breathe into a tube before they can try to start their vehicles. Under current law, ignition interlocks are placed on the cars of people convicted of driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent or higher.
The effort to expand use of the ignition devices has been embraced by police and the Leotta family in the months following the young officer’s death. Leotta, 24, was on duty at a drunk driving checkpoint when he was struck and fatally injured by a vehicle whose driver was intoxicated and had previous drunk-driving convictions.
His parents, Rich Leotta and Marcia Goldman, have channeled their grief into advocating for tougher drunk-driving laws. They were in the room when the House panel approved the bill Thursday night.
[Father of slain officer calls for more use of ignition locks]
The ignition-lock bill advanced on the same day that the Maryland Senate unanimously approved a bill authorizing prison sentences for adults who provide alcohol to people who are underage or host a party where someone younger than 21 is drinking.
That legislation — drafted after a teenager got drunk at party in Montgomery County, crashed his car and killed two passengers — was discussed in the House Judiciary Committee Thursday night but no vote was taken.
Just as the ignition-lock bill was dubbed “Noah’s law,” the legislation that passed the Senate is known as “Alex and Calvin’s Law” after Alex Murk and Calvin Li, teenagers from Rockville who were killed last June shortly after graduating from Thomas S. Wootton High School.
[‘We felt invincible’: Report details deadly wreck, party that preceded it][‘We felt invincible’: Report details deadly wreck, party that preceded it]
“At minimum, this legislation addresses the supply-side of underage drinking’s supply-and-demand paradigm,” said Kurt Erickson, executive director of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program. “At maximum, this potentially lifesaving bill will serve as a deterrent to parents’ enabling of unlawful teen drinking and its too often life-changing consequences.” They and their driver, 18-year-old Sam Ellis, had been at a party at the home of Kenneth Saltzman, 49, who was issued two criminal citations for allowing underage drinking. A judge levied the maximum fine of $2,500 for each violation.
The legislation has been dubbed “Alex and Calvin’s Law” after Alex Murk and Calvin Li, the teenagers from Rockville who died last June shortly after graduating from Thomas S. Wootton High School. Alex and Calvin’s law would stiffen the penalty to up to a year in prison and a fine of $5,000 for a first offense, and up to two years in prison and $7,500 for a second or subsequent offense.
The teens and the teenager who was driving the car had been at a party at the home of Kenneth Saltzman, 49, who was issued two criminal citations for allowing underage drinking. A judge levied the maximum fine of $2,500 for each violation.
The bill approved in the Senate on Thursday would stiffen the penalty to up to a year in prison and a fine of $5,000 for a first offense, and up to two years in prison and $7,500 for a second or subsequent offense.
Twenty-six other states include the possibility of jail time for adults convicted of providing alcohol to people younger than 21.Twenty-six other states include the possibility of jail time for adults convicted of providing alcohol to people younger than 21.
[Stiffer penalties approved by Senate panel][Stiffer penalties approved by Senate panel]
During hearings, law enforcement officials, advocates and family members of drunken driving victims pleaded with lawmakers to pass “Alex and Calvin’s” bill. During hearings, law enforcement officials, advocates and family members of drunken driving victims pleaded with lawmakers to pass the bill. David Murk and Paul Li, the fathers of the dead teenagers, gave emotional testimony, with Li telling the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee his heart “was shattered in pieces” when he went to the morgue to see his son’s body.
David Murk and Paul Li, the teenagers’ fathers, also gave emotional testimony, with Li telling the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, “my heart was shattered in pieces” when he went to the morgue to see his son’s body.
Montgomery County Capt. Tom Didone said police have cracked down on 30 underage drinking parties since the teenagers’ deaths. A third of them, he said, were hosted by adults.
The judicial committee took the unusual step of voting on the bill before the testimony was finished. It passed unanimously, as people in the audience cheered and members of Murk’s and Li’s families wept.The judicial committee took the unusual step of voting on the bill before the testimony was finished. It passed unanimously, as people in the audience cheered and members of Murk’s and Li’s families wept.
There was no floor debate on the bill in the Senate on Thursday before another unanimous vote. Josh Hicks contributed to this report.