Essay
SUMMATIVE: Bill Support Essay for Model Legislature
Bill: HF1545, SF1331
Persons 17 years of age permitted to serve alcoholic beverages.
BILL HF1545, SF1331 ESSAY
My bill, known as “Persons 17 years of age permitted to serve alcoholic beverages”, would be so useful for a few reasons.The main reason is to increase the job opportunities for Minnesota teenagers. This will also benefit businesses that sell alcoholic beverages, as their underage employees will be able to serve intoxicated liquor. According to ‘Minnesota House of Representatives’, Rep. Tim O'Driscoll decided to work on a legislative fix after hearing from a restaurant owner who has to take trays of alcohol from the bar to the tables, walking past his servers who are only prevented from doing so because they’re under 18.
Currently, individuals under 18 years old are prohibited from serving or selling intoxicating liquor. The bill seeks to allow 17-year-olds to serve or sell intoxicating liquor in retail establishments that hold an on sale intoxicating liquor license. However, 17-year-olds would remain prohibited from working in retail establishments with an offsale intoxicating liquor license. O’Driscoll also said that restaurants in the St. Cloud area want to be able to retain employees for a few years and a change to the age requirement could also help with that.
Another reason is that workers can be retained at the establishment for longer because they can start selling alcohol at an earlier age and can be recruited sooner.Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa) also sentenced that businesses in his district, which includes the large service industry in the Brainerd Lakes area, face the same challenges as the St. Cloud area. “This is a very important issue and the change in statute would be significant and very positively impactful in my district,” Heintzeman said.
But hospitality union UNITE HERE Local 17 is opposing the bill on the grounds that it’s inappropriate for children to serve alcohol to adults. “We believe that adults should be serving and selling to adults,” they said. Based on my research and my experience and maturity as a teenager, I can say that 17-year-olds are just as capable of selling alcohol as adults. Even though they can't drink, legally no one can while they are working, so it's a double fact that they won't drink.
West Virginia and Maine are the only states that allow 17-year-olds to serve alcohol, and they require it to be done under supervision. This bill has been working really well in these states, without having found any evidence of problems with these minors. The only difference is that in this new law that it wants to be implied in Minnesota, they do not talk about supervising the minor.
I think that this bill will be very beneficial for many people, with minors being the main beneficiaries, but also the establishments that hire them, as they will have more hands helping with alcohol sales. This law would be a win win.
SOURCES
Figueroa, Ariana. “States Seek to Let Teens as Young as 14 Serve Booze in Restaurants • West Virginia Watch.” West Virginia Watch, 8 Aug. 2023, westvirginiawatch.com/2023/08/08/states-seek-to-let-teens-as-young-as-14-serve-booze-in-restaurants/.
Kaczke, Lisa. “Minnesota Restaurants Lobby Lawmakers to Allow 17-Year-Olds to Serve Alcohol.” Minnesota Restaurants Lobby Lawmakers to Allow 17-Year-Olds to Serve Alcohol - Session Daily - Minnesota House of Representatives, 13 Mar. 2025, www.house.mn.gov/sessiondaily/Story/18597.
“Can Bartenders Drink on the Job in Minnesota?: Certification Experts.” Certification Experts, 27 Sept. 2024, www.certificationexperts.com/blog/can-bartenders-drink-on-the-job-in-minnesota?utm_source=chatgpt.com.