H. R. 864
One Hundred Ninth Congress
of the
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and six 
An Act 
To provide for programs and activities with respect to the prevention of underage 
drinking.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sober Truth on Preventing 
Underage Drinking Act’’ or the ‘‘STOP Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT. 
Section 519B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–
25b) is amended by striking subsections (a) through (f) and inserting 
the following: 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘alcohol beverage industry’ means the 
brewers, vintners, distillers, importers, distributors, and retail 
or online outlets that sell or serve beer, wine, and distilled 
spirits. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘school-based prevention’ means programs, 
which are institutionalized, and run by staff members or school-
designated persons or organizations in any grade of school, 
kindergarten through 12th grade. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘youth’ means persons under the age of 
21. 
‘‘(4) The term ‘IOM report’ means the report released in 
September 2003 by the National Research Council, Institute 
of Medicine, and entitled ‘Reducing Underage Drinking: A 
Collective Responsibility’. 
‘‘(b) SENSE
OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Congress 
that: 
‘‘(1) A multi-faceted effort is needed to more successfully 
address the problem of underage drinking in the United States. 
A coordinated approach to prevention, intervention, treatment, 
enforcement, and research is key to making progress. This 
Act recognizes the need for a focused national effort, and 
addresses particulars of the Federal portion of that effort, as 
well as Federal support for State activities. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
continue to conduct research and collect data on the short 
and long-range impact of alcohol use and abuse upon adolescent 
brain development and other organ systems. 
‘‘(3) States and communities, including colleges and univer-
sities, are encouraged to adopt comprehensive prevention 
approaches, including—
H. R. 864—2
‘‘(A) evidence-based screening, programs and curricula; 
‘‘(B) brief intervention strategies; 
‘‘(C) consistent policy enforcement; and 
‘‘(D) environmental changes that limit underage access 
to alcohol. 
‘‘(4) Public health groups, consumer groups, and the alcohol 
beverage industry should continue and expand evidence-based 
efforts to prevent and reduce underage drinking. 
‘‘(5) The entertainment industries have a powerful impact 
on youth, and they should use rating systems and marketing 
codes to reduce the likelihood that underage audiences will 
be exposed to movies, recordings, or television programs with 
unsuitable alcohol content. 
‘‘(6) The National Collegiate Athletic Association, its 
member colleges and universities, and athletic conferences 
should affirm a commitment to a policy of discouraging alcohol 
use among underage students and other young fans. 
‘‘(7) Alcohol is a unique product and should be regulated 
differently than other products by the States and Federal 
Government. States have primary authority to regulate alcohol 
distribution and sale, and the Federal Government should sup-
port and supplement these State efforts. States also have a 
responsibility to fight youth access to alcohol and reduce under-
age drinking. Continued State regulation and licensing of the 
manufacture, importation, sale, distribution, transportation and 
storage of alcoholic beverages are clearly in the public interest 
and are critical to promoting responsible consumption, pre-
venting illegal access to alcohol by persons under 21 years 
of 
age 
from 
commercial 
and 
non-commercial 
sources, 
maintaining industry integrity and an orderly marketplace, 
and furthering effective State tax collection. 
‘‘(c) INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE; ANNUAL REPORT 
ON STATE UNDERAGE DRINKING PREVENTION AND ENFORCEMENT 
ACTIVITIES.—
‘‘(1) INTERAGENCY
COORDINATING
COMMITTEE
ON
THE 
PREVENTION OF UNDERAGE DRINKING.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in collaboration with 
the Federal officials specified in subparagraph (B), shall 
formally establish and enhance the efforts of the inter-
agency coordinating committee, that began operating in 
2004, focusing on underage drinking (referred to in this 
subsection as the ‘Committee’). 
‘‘(B) OTHER
AGENCIES.—The officials referred to in 
paragraph (1) are the Secretary of Education, the Attorney 
General, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary 
of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Surgeon 
General, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention, the Director of the National Institute on 
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Administrator of the 
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administra-
tion, the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 
the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, the 
Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, 
the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile 
Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Chairman of the 
Federal Trade Commission, and such other Federal officials
H. R. 864—3
as the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines 
to be appropriate. 
‘‘(C) CHAIR.—The Secretary of Health and Human 
Services shall serve as the chair of the Committee. 
‘‘(D) DUTIES.—The Committee shall guide policy and 
program development across the Federal Government with 
respect to underage drinking, provided, however, that 
nothing in this section shall be construed as transferring 
regulatory or program authority from an Agency to the 
Coordinating Committee. 
‘‘(E) CONSULTATIONS.—The Committee shall actively 
seek the input of and shall consult with all appropriate 
and interested parties, including States, public health 
research and interest groups, foundations, and alcohol bev-
erage industry trade associations and companies. 
‘‘(F) ANNUAL REPORT.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, on behalf of the 
Committee, shall annually submit to the Congress a 
report that summarizes—
‘‘(I) all programs and policies of Federal agen-
cies designed to prevent and reduce underage 
drinking; 
‘‘(II) the extent of progress in preventing and 
reducing underage drinking nationally; 
‘‘(III) data that the Secretary shall collect with 
respect to the information specified in clause (ii); 
and 
‘‘(IV) such other information regarding under-
age drinking as the Secretary determines to be 
appropriate. 
‘‘(ii) CERTAIN
INFORMATION.—The report under 
clause (i) shall include information on the following: 
‘‘(I) Patterns and consequences of underage 
drinking as reported in research and surveys such 
as, but not limited to Monitoring the Future, Youth 
Risk Behavior Surveillance System, the National 
Survey on Drug Use and Health, and the Fatality 
Analysis Reporting System. 
‘‘(II) Measures of the availability of alcohol 
from commercial and non-commercial sources to 
underage populations. 
‘‘(III) Measures of the exposure of underage 
populations to messages regarding alcohol in 
advertising and the entertainment media as 
reported by the Federal Trade Commission. 
‘‘(IV) Surveillance data, including information 
on the onset and prevalence of underage drinking, 
consumption patterns and the means of underage 
access. The Secretary shall develop a plan to 
improve the collection, measurement and consist-
ency of reporting Federal underage alcohol data. 
‘‘(V) Any additional findings resulting from 
research conducted or supported under subsection 
(f). 
‘‘(VI) Evidence-based best practices to prevent 
and reduce underage drinking and provide treat-
ment services to those youth who need them.
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‘‘(2) ANNUAL
REPORT
ON
STATE
UNDERAGE
DRINKING 
PREVENTION AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, with input and 
collaboration from other appropriate Federal agencies, 
States, Indian tribes, territories, and public health, con-
sumer, and alcohol beverage industry groups, annually 
issue a report on each State’s performance in enacting, 
enforcing, and creating laws, regulations, and programs 
to prevent or reduce underage drinking. 
‘‘(B) STATE PERFORMANCE MEASURES.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop, in 
consultation with the Committee, a set of measures 
to be used in preparing the report on best practices. 
‘‘(ii) CATEGORIES.—In developing these measures, 
the Secretary shall consider categories including, but 
not limited to: 
‘‘(I) Whether or not the State has comprehen-
sive anti-underage drinking laws such as for the 
illegal sale, purchase, attempt to purchase, 
consumption, or possession of alcohol; illegal use 
of fraudulent ID; illegal furnishing or obtaining 
of alcohol for an individual under 21 years; the 
degree of strictness of the penalties for such 
offenses; and the prevalence of the enforcement 
of each of these infractions. 
‘‘(II) Whether or not the State has comprehen-
sive liability statutes pertaining to underage access 
to alcohol such as dram shop, social host, and 
house party laws, and the prevalence of enforce-
ment of each of these laws. 
‘‘(III) Whether or not the State encourages 
and conducts comprehensive enforcement efforts 
to prevent underage access to alcohol at retail 
outlets, such as random compliance checks and 
shoulder tap programs, and the number of compli-
ance checks within alcohol retail outlets measured 
against the number of total alcohol retail outlets 
in each State, and the result of such checks. 
‘‘(IV) Whether or not the State encourages 
training on the proper selling and serving of 
alcohol for all sellers and servers of alcohol as 
a condition of employment. 
‘‘(V) Whether or not the State has policies 
and regulations with regard to direct sales to con-
sumers and home delivery of alcoholic beverages. 
‘‘(VI) Whether or not the State has programs 
or laws to deter adults from purchasing alcohol 
for minors; and the number of adults targeted 
by these programs. 
‘‘(VII) Whether or not the State has programs 
targeted to youths, parents, and caregivers to deter 
underage drinking; and the number of individuals 
served by these programs. 
‘‘(VIII) Whether or not the State has enacted 
graduated drivers licenses and the extent of those 
provisions.