Opinion ID: 1136584
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: history of act 639 of 1995

Text: In 1986 the Louisiana Legislature passed Act 33 of 1986, which amended and reenacted La.R.S. 14:91.1 and La.R.S. 14:91.2, and enacted La.R.S. 14:91.5, raising the minimum drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one in Louisiana. Act 33 of 1986 was passed in response to the passage by Congress of 23 U.S.C. § 158, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which requires states to impose a minimum age of twenty-one for the purchase or public consumption of alcoholic beverages in order to remain eligible to receive full federal highway funding. Under 23 U.S.C. § 158, a state which fails to comply and raise its minimum drinking age to twenty-one has 5% of its federal highway funds withheld during the first year of non-compliance and 10% of such funds withheld in each succeeding year. [2] While Act 33 of 1986 raised the minimum drinking age in Louisiana to twenty-one by prohibiting the purchase or public possession of alcoholic beverages by persons under twenty-one, it contained no sanctions applicable to retailers or sellers of alcoholic beverages to such persons. Though this statutory scheme apparently satisfied the requirements of 23 U.S.C. § 158, as Louisiana has continued to receive full federal highway funding since March 15, 1987, the effective date of the Act, the omission of sanctions on retailers and sellers of alcoholic beverages rendered the statutes practically unenforceable, as only the underage purchasers, and not the sellers of alcoholic beverages could be punished. In 1995, Act 639 of 1995 amended and reenacted La.R.S. 26:90(A)(1)(a) and (b) and La.R.S. 26:286(A)(1)(a) and (b), enacted La. R.S. 14:93.10 through La.R.S. 14:93.14, and repealed former La.R.S. 14:91.1 through La. R.S. 14:91.5. These changes produced statutes almost identical to those contained in Act 33 of 1986 insofar as the provisions relating to eighteen to twenty-one year old purchasers and possessors of alcoholic beverages were concerned, but added provisions imposing sanctions on retailers for selling alcoholic beverages to those between ages eighteen and twenty-one. [3] Therefore, the changes made in Act 639 of 1995 effectively closed the loophole in Louisiana's drinking age law which had rendered it practically unenforceable.