I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 864
To provide for programs and activities with respect to the prevention of 
underage drinking. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 16, 2005
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD (for herself, Mr. WOLF, Mr. OSBORNE, Ms. DELAURO, 
Mr. WAMP, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GEORGE MILLER 
of California, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. CASE, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. 
FORTUN˜O, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CARDOZA, 
Mr. SANDERS, Mr. PLATTS, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mrs. BONO, 
and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide for programs and activities with respect to the 
prevention of underage drinking.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act’’, or 
the ‘‘STOP Underage Drinking Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
TITLE I—SENSE OF CONGRESS 
Sec. 101. Sense of Congress. 
TITLE II—INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE; ANNUAL 
REPORT CARD 
Sec. 201. Establishment of interagency coordinating committee to prevent un-
derage drinking. 
Sec. 202. Annual report card. 
Sec. 203. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE III—NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN 
Sec. 301. National media campaign to prevent underage drinking. 
TITLE IV—INTERVENTIONS 
Sec. 401. Community-based coalition enhancement grants to prevent underage 
drinking. 
Sec. 402. Grants directed at reducing higher-education alcohol abuse. 
TITLE V—ADDITIONAL RESEARCH 
Sec. 501. Additional research on underage drinking. 
Sec. 502. Authorization of appropriations.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Drinking alcohol under the age of 21 is ille-
gal in each of the 50 States and the District of Co-
lumbia. Enforcement of current laws and regulations 
in States and communities, such as minimum age 
drinking laws, zero tolerance laws, and laws and reg-
ulations which restrict availability of alcohol, must 
supplement other efforts to reduce underage drink-
ing. 
(2) Data collected annually by the Department 
of Health and Human Services shows that alcohol is
the most heavily used drug by children in the United 
States, and that—
(A) more youths consume alcoholic bev-
erages than use tobacco products or illegal 
drugs; 
(B) by the end of the eighth grade, 45.6 
percent of children have engaged in alcohol use, 
and by the end of high school, 76.6 percent 
have done so; and 
(C) the annual societal cost of underage 
drinking is estimated at $53 to $58 billion. 
(3) Data collected by the Department of Health 
and Human Services and the Department of Trans-
portation indicate that alcohol use by youth has 
many negative consequences, such as immediate risk 
from acute impairment; traffic fatalities; violence; 
suicide; and unprotected sex. 
(4) Research confirms that the harm caused by 
underage drinking lasts beyond the underage years. 
Compared to persons who wait until age 21 or older 
to start drinking, those who start to drink before 
age 14 are, as adults, four times more likely to be-
come alcohol dependent; seven times more likely to 
be in a motor vehicle crash because of drinking; and
more likely to suffer mental and physical damage 
from alcohol abuse. 
(5) Alcohol abuse creates long-term risk devel-
opmentally and is associated with negative physical 
impacts on the brain. 
(6) Research indicates that adults greatly un-
derestimate the extent of alcohol use by youths, its 
negative consequences, and its use by their own chil-
dren. The IOM report concluded that underage 
drinking cannot be successfully addressed by focus-
ing on youth alone. Ultimately, adults are respon-
sible for young people obtaining alcohol by selling, 
providing, or otherwise making it available to them. 
Parents are the most important channel of influence 
on their children’s underage drinking, according to 
the IOM report, which also recommends a national 
adult-oriented media campaign. 
(7) Research shows that public service health 
messages, in combination with community-based ef-
forts, can reduce health-damaging behavior. The De-
partment of Health and Human Services and the Ad 
Council have undertaken a public health campaign 
targeted at parents to combat underage alcohol con-
sumption. The Ad Council estimates that, for a typ-
ical public health campaign, it receives an average of
$28 million per year in free media through its 
28,000 media outlets nationwide. 
(8) A significant percentage of the total alcohol 
consumption in the United States each year is by 
underage youth. The Substance Abuse and Mental 
Health Services Administration reports that the per-
centage is over 11 percent. 
(9) Youth are exposed to a significant amount 
of alcohol advertising through a variety of media. 
Some studies indicate that youth awareness of alco-
hol advertising correlates to their drinking behavior 
and beliefs. 
(10) According to the Center on Alcohol Mar-
keting and Youth, in 2002, the alcoholic beverage in-
dustry spent $927,900,000 on product advertising 
on television, and $24,700,000 on television adver-
tising designed to promote the responsible use of al-
cohol. For every one television ad discouraging un-
derage alcohol use, there were 215 product ads. 
(11) Alcohol use occurs in 76 percent of movies 
rated G or PG and 97 percent of movies rated PG–
13. The Federal Trade Commission has rec-
ommended restricting paid alcohol beverage pro-
motional placements to films rated R or NC–17.
(12) Youth spend 9 to 11 hours per week lis-
tening to music, and 17 percent of all lyrics contain 
alcohol references; 30 percent of those songs include 
brand-name mentions. 
(13) Studies show that adolescents watch 20 to 
27 hours of television each week, and 71 percent of 
prime-time television episodes depict alcohol use and 
77 percent contain some reference to alcohol. 
(14) College and university presidents have 
cited alcohol abuse as the number one health prob-
lem on college and university campuses. 
(15) According to the National Institute on Al-
cohol Abuse and Alcoholism, two of five college stu-
dents are binge drinkers; 1,400 college students die 
each year from alcohol-related injuries, a majority of 
which involve motor vehicle crashes; more than 
70,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual 
assault; and 500,000 students are injured under the 
influence of alcohol each year. 
(16) According to the Center on Alcohol Mar-
keting and Youth, in 2002, alcohol producers spent 
a total of $58 million to place 6,251 commercials in 
college sports programs, and spent $27.7 million ad-
vertising during the NCAA men’s basketball tour-
nament, which had as many alcohol ads (939) as the
Super Bowl, World Series, College Bowl Games and 
the National Football League’s Monday Night Foot-
ball broadcasts combined (925). 
(17) The IOM report recommended that col-
leges and universities ban alcohol advertising and 
promotion on campus in order to demonstrate their 
commitment to discouraging alcohol use among un-
derage students. 
(18) According to the Government Account-
ability Office (‘‘GAO’’), the Federal Government 
spends $1.8 billion annually to combat youth drug 
use and $71 million to prevent underage alcohol use. 
(19) The GAO concluded that there is a lack of 
reporting about how these funds are specifically ex-
pended, inadequate collaboration among the agen-
cies, and no central coordinating group or office to 
oversee how the funds are expended or to determine 
the effectiveness of these efforts. 
(20) There are at least three major, annual, 
government funded national surveys in the United 
States that include underage drinking data: the Na-
tional Household Survey on Drug Use and Health, 
Monitoring the Future, and the Youth Risk Behav-
ior Survey. These surveys do not use common indi-
cators to allow for direct comparison of youth alco-
hol consumption patterns. Analyses of recent years’ 
data do, however, show similar results. 
(21) Research shows that school-based and 
community-based interventions can reduce underage 
drinking and associated problems, and that positive 
outcomes can be achieved by combining environ-
mental and institutional change with theory-based 
health education—a comprehensive, community-
based approach. 
(22) Studies show that a minority of youth who 
need treatment for their alcohol problems receive 
such services. Further, insufficient information ex-
ists to properly assist clinicians and other providers 
in their youth treatment efforts. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘binge drinking’’ means a pattern 
of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol con-
centration (BAC) to 0.08 gm percent or above. For 
the typical adult, this pattern corresponds to con-
suming 5 or more drinks (male), or 4 or more drinks 
(female), in about 2 hours. 
(2) The term ‘‘heavy drinking’’ means five or 
more drinks on the same occasion in the past 30 
days.
(3) The term ‘‘frequent heavy drinking’’ means 
five or more drinks on at least five occasions in the 
last 30 days. 
(4) The term ‘‘alcoholic beverage industry’’ 
means the brewers, vintners, distillers, importers, 
distributors, and retail outlets that sell and serve 
beer, wine, and distilled spirits. 
(5) The term ‘‘school-based prevention’’ means 
programs, which are institutionalized, and run by 
staff members or school-designated persons or orga-
nizations in every grade of school, kindergarten 
through 12th grade. 
(6) The term ‘‘youth’’ means persons under the 
age of 21. 
(7) The term ‘‘IOM report’’ means the report 
released in September 2003 by the National Re-
search Council, Institute of Medicine, and entitled 
‘‘Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Respon-
sibility’’. 
TITLE I—SENSE OF CONGRESS 
SEC. 101. 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 drink-
ing in the United States. A coordinated approach to
prevention, intervention, treatment, 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. 
(2) States and communities, including colleges 
and universities, are encouraged to adopt com-
prehensive prevention approaches, including—
(A) evidence-based screening, programs 
and curricula; 
(B) brief intervention strategies; 
(C) consistent policy enforcement; and 
(D) environmental changes that limit un-
derage access to alcohol. 
(3) Public health and consumer groups have 
played an important role in drawing the Nation’s at-
tention to the health crisis of underage drinking. 
Working at the Federal, State, and community lev-
els, and motivated by grass-roots support, they have 
initiated effective prevention programs that have 
made significant progress in the battle against un-
derage drinking. 
(4) The alcohol beverage industry has developed 
and paid for national education and awareness mes-
sages on illegal underage drinking directed to par-
ents as well as consumers generally. According to
the industry, it has also supported the training of 
more than 1.6 million retail employees, community-
based prevention programs, point of sale education, 
and enforcement programs. All of these efforts are 
aimed at further reducing illegal underage drinking 
and preventing sales of alcohol to persons under the 
age of 21. All sectors of the alcohol beverage indus-
try have also voluntarily committed to placing adver-
tisements in broadcast and magazines where at least 
70 percent of the audiences are expected to be 21 
years of age or older. The industry should continue 
to monitor and tailor its advertising practices to fur-
ther limit underage exposure, including the use of 
independent third party review. The industry should 
continue and expand evidence-based efforts to pre-
vent underage drinking. 
(5) Public health and consumer groups, in col-
laboration with the alcohol beverage industry, should 
explore opportunities to reduce underage drinking. 
(6) The entertainment industries have a power-
ful impact on youth, and they should use rating sys-
tems and marketing codes to reduce the likelihood 
that underage audiences will be exposed to movies, 
recordings, or television programs with unsuitable
alcohol content, even if adults are expected to pre-
dominate in the viewing or listening audiences. 
(7) Objective scientific evidence and data should 
be generated and made available to the general pub-
lic and policy makers at the local, state, and national 
levels to help them make informed decisions, imple-
ment judicious policies, and monitor progress in pre-
venting childhood/adolescent alcohol use. 
(8) The National Collegiate Athletic Associa-
tion, its member colleges and universities, and ath-
letic conferences should affirm a commitment to a 
policy of discouraging alcohol use among underage 
students and other young fans by ending all alcohol 
advertising during radio and television broadcasts of 
collegiate sporting events. 
TITLE 
II—INTERAGENCY 
CO-
ORDINATING 
COMMITTEE; 
ANNUAL REPORT CARD 
SEC. 201. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY COORDI-
NATING COMMITTEE TO PREVENT UNDER-
AGE DRINKING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, in collaboration with the Federal officials 
specified in subsection (b), shall establish an interagency
coordinating committee focusing on underage drinking 
(referred to in this section as the ‘‘Committee’’). 
(b) OTHER AGENCIES.—The officials referred to in 
subsection (a) are the Secretary of Education, the Attor-
ney General, the Secretary of Transportation, the Sec-
retary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Sur-
geon General, the Director of the Centers for Disease Con-
trol 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 Juve-
nile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Chairman of 
the Federal Trade Commission, and such other Federal 
officials 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.
(e) CONSULTATIONS.—The Committee shall actively 
seek the input of and shall consult with all appropriate 
and interested parties, including public health research 
and interest groups, foundations, and alcohol beverage in-
dustry trade associations and companies. 
(f) ANNUAL REPORT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, on behalf of the Committee, shall 
annually submit to the Congress a report that sum-
marizes—
(A) all programs and policies of Federal 
agencies designed to prevent underage drinking; 
(B) the extent of progress in reducing un-
derage drinking nationally; 
(C) data that the Secretary shall collect 
with respect to the information specified in 
paragraph (2); and 
(D) such other information regarding un-
derage drinking as the Secretary determines to 
be appropriate. 
(2) CERTAIN INFORMATION.—The report under 
paragraph (1) shall include information on the fol-
lowing: 
(A) Patterns and consequences of under-
age drinking.
(B) Measures of the availability of alcohol 
to underage populations and the exposure of 
this population to messages regarding alcohol in 
advertising and the entertainment media. 
(C) Surveillance data, including informa-
tion on the onset and prevalence of underage 
drinking. 
(D) Any additional findings resulting from 
research conducted or supported under section 
501. 
(E) Evidence-based best practices to both 
prevent underage drinking and provide treat-
ment services to those youth who need them. 
SEC. 202. ANNUAL REPORT CARD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall, with input and collaboration from other ap-
propriate Federal agencies, States, Indian tribes, terri-
tories, and public health, consumer, and alcohol beverage 
industry groups, annually issue a ‘‘report card’’ to accu-
rately rate the performance of each state in enacting, en-
forcing, and creating laws, regulations, and programs to 
prevent or reduce underage drinking. The report card 
shall include ratings on outcome measures for categories
related to the prevalence of underage drinking in each 
State. 
(b) OUTCOME MEASURES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop, 
in consultation with the Committee established in 
section 201, a set of outcome measures to be used 
in preparing the report card. 
(2) CATEGORIES.—In developing the outcome 
measures, the Secretary shall develop measures for 
categories related to the following: 
(A) The degree of strictness of the min-
imum drinking age laws and dram shop liability 
statutes in each State. 
(B) The number of compliance checks 
within alcohol retail outlets conducted measured 
against the number of total alcohol retail out-
lets in each State, and the results of such 
checks. 
(C) Whether or not the State mandates or 
otherwise provides training on the proper sell-
ing and serving of alcohol for all sellers and 
servers of alcohol as a condition of employment. 
(D) Whether or not the State has policies 
and regulations with regard to Internet sales 
and home delivery of alcoholic beverages.
(E) The number of adults in the State tar-
geted by State programs to deter adults from 
purchasing alcohol for minors. 
(F) The number of youths, parents, and 
caregivers who are targeted by State programs 
designed to deter underage drinking. 
(G) Whether or not the State has enacted 
graduated drivers licenses and the extent of 
those provisions. 
(H) The amount that the State invests, 
per youth capita, on the prevention of underage 
drinking, further broken down by the amount 
spent on—
(i) compliance check programs in re-
tail outlets, including providing technology 
to prevent and detect the use of false iden-
tification by minors to make alcohol pur-
chases; 
(ii) checkpoints; 
(iii) community-based, school-based, 
and higher-education-based programs to 
prevent underage drinking; 
(iv) underage drinking prevention pro-
grams that target youth within the juvenile 
justice and child welfare systems; and
(v) other State efforts or programs as 
deemed appropriate. 
SEC. 203. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this title $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, and such sums 
as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2007 
through 2010. 
TITLE III—NATIONAL MEDIA 
CAMPAIGN 
SEC. 301. NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT UN-
DERAGE DRINKING. 
(a) SCOPE OF THE CAMPAIGN.—The Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall continue to fund and 
oversee the production, broadcasting, and evaluation of 
the Ad Council’s national adult-oriented media public serv-
ice campaign. 
(b) REPORT.—The Secretary of Health and Human 
Services shall provide a report to the Congress annually 
detailing the production, broadcasting, and evaluation of 
the campaign referred to in subsection (a), and to detail 
in the report the effectiveness of the campaign in reducing 
underage drinking, the need for and likely effectiveness 
of an expanded adult-oriented media campaign, and the 
feasibility and the likely effectiveness of a national youth-
focused media campaign to combat underage drinking.