Underage students are soon going to have a harder time drinking, at least on party buses.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 45 into law over the weekend, putting more responsibility on operators and bus drivers to make sure no one underage is drinking in their vehicles.
The law, which will go into effect January 2013, requires bus operators or drivers to make sure all passengers are 21 or older if alcohol is being served on the bus.
If there is someone younger than 21 when there is alcohol present, there must be a 25-year-old on board to take responsibility for that person’s actions, or the alcohol must be stored somewhere inaccessible to the passengers.
School buses that transport fraternities and sororities to off-campus events fall under the new law’s jurisdiction, as do party buses that pick students up in Westwood to go to clubs through the Bruin Party Network.
Before this law, there were no regulations to prevent underage drinking on charter buses, said Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, who wrote the bill.
The state passed laws to make limousines liable for accidents related to underage drinking in the 1980s, but now party buses have become the ride of choice for young people looking to go out, Hill said.
At UCLA, Greek operations already prohibit alcohol on buses that transport students to events, said Andy Flores, the co-chair of Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol.
“We don’t allow any drinking on buses whether or not you’re 21,” Flores said. “We consider it a liability.”
Before students board buses that take them to events like raids ““ off-campus parties hosted by a fraternity and sorority ““ date parties and tailgates, members of GAMMA hire security guards and check bags for alcohol, though they don’t pat people down, said Flores, a fourth-year English and Spanish student.
Two security guards ride on each bus ““ one in the front and one in the back ““ and confiscate any alcohol if they see it, she said.
Bruin Party Network, a company that arranges party bus or limousine transportation to and from clubs and events for Westwood residents, uses buses that do allow its patrons to drink on board, but they take precautions to make sure the riders are 21.
On Wednesday night, Bruin Party Network employee Anthony Hernandes stood in front of a charter bus, checking IDs before handing well-dressed partygoers wristbands as they boarded. The bus was going to Supper Club, a 21-and-over club in Hollywood.
UCLA Extension students Olympia Altimir and Bediz Duzel were boarding the bus on Wednesday, and said they’ve been using it for a year without seeing any underage drinking incidents.
They are both older than 21, and sometimes bring their own alcohol for the bus ride, Altimir said.
Hernandes checks IDs before leaving Westwood because all the clubs Bruin Party Network goes to are 21 and over, so it would be pointless for someone under 21 to waste time and money on the bus, he said.
Though he said there haven’t been any accidents with underage drinking on Bruin Party Network trips, people often board the bus with a fake ID, only to be turned away at the clubs, Hernandes said.
The new law does not make operators liable if someone drinks underage on a bus after using a fake ID.
The law is named after Brett Studebaker, a teenager who died in a drunk driving accident after drinking too much on a party bus, Hill said.
“In talking with the owner of the company of the bus that Studebaker was on, he felt that the driver was solely responsible for driving the bus, and what went on behind him was none of his business.
And legally he was correct,” Hill said. “I felt that we needed to close this generationally created loophole.”
The law creates a good balance of responsibility between the carriers and the designees, said Tom Giddens, president of the California Bus Association, which worked with Hill on the bill.
It puts pressure on everyone in the bus, Giddens said, from the driver making sure no one underage is drinking to the students who will force the entire bus to turn around and miss an event if they’re caught with alcohol.