May 24, 2005 |
2005-R-0497 | |
RAISING THE DRINKING AGE | ||
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By: Daniel Duffy, Principal Analyst | ||
You asked for a statement of the arguments offered in public hearings and legislative debate to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21 during the 1980s.
SUMMARY
Connecticut raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 in three steps taken in 1982, 1983, and 1985. In 1982, the arguments for raising it were all related to youthful alcohol consumption and the resultant problems. Many speakers discussed the relatively high number of alcohol-related traffic accidents and fatalities among youths. Some cited statistics from studies conducted in other states, which had increased the drinking age, that showed that there had been a reduction in the number of alcohol-related deaths among youths. Other speakers discussed the presence of alcohol in high schools and the need to make it less accessible. Some speakers stressed the need to reduce youthful consumption of alcohol and other harmful substances.
In 1983, all these arguments were repeated. Additionally, some advocates discussed the fact that the federal National Traffic Safety Board had recommended that all states at least set 20 as the minimum drinking age. Others noted that Massachusetts and Rhode Island both raised the drinking age to 20.
In 1985, the legislature raised the drinking age to 21. It acted following a federal enactment that threatened the state with loss of certain federal transportation funds if the state did not do so. Supporters stated that it is important that each state set the same drinking age. This will reduce drinking and driving because youths will not have an incentive to cross the border to a state with a lower drinking age. They pointed out that Massachusetts and Rhode Island already raised their drinking ages to 21. Advocates stated that the state should not wait to raise the drinking age. If raising it saves lives, they argued, then we should save them sooner rather than later.
1982
The legislature raised the drinking age from 18 to 19 in 1982. The House of Representatives amended the bill to increase the drinking age to 20, but the Senate rejected it and the House subsequently concurred.
General Law Committee Public Hearing
Speaker |
Argument |
Senator Regina Smith |
● Reduce injuries and fatalities from alcohol-related traffic accidents involving young people. ● Reduce cross-border youthful alcohol purchases because New York will raise its drinking age and Massachusetts and Rhode Island already have. |
Representative Cappeletti |
● Reduce alcohol-related traffic accidents among 18 and 19 year-old drivers. ● Connecticut is one of only eight states that still has 18 as the drinking age. |
Glen Duhl |
● Reduce access to alcohol by high school students. |
Paula-Ray June |
● Reduce access to alcohol by high school students. ● Reduce alcohol-related traffic accidents. |
Don Pappa |
● Alcohol is the number one cause of death among young people. |
William Gifford |
● Effects of alcohol on young people include traffic accidents, driving while under the influence, school disruptions, and family problems. |
Ruth Nuhn |
● Reduce access to alcohol by high school students. |
Laurence Shapiro |
● Reduce access to alcohol by high school students ● Reduce alcohol-related traffic accidents and fatalities. |
Tammy Green |
● Fifteen states that lowered the drinking age in the early 1970s subsequently raised it. ● Reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities among youths. ● Reduce substance abuse among youths. |
Diane Carroll |
● Reduce access to alcohol by high school students. |
Caroll Hughes |
● Reduce access to alcohol by high school students. |
Ray O'Connell |
● Teenage drinking leads to many social ills. |
William Higgins |
● Reduce teenage drinking. |
House Proceedings
Speaker |
Argument |
Carragher |
● Reduce alcohol consumption by teenagers. ● Make alcohol less accessible to high school students. ● Decrease the number of alcohol-related traffic accidents. ● Reduce teenage deaths from traffic accidents and by suicide. ● Reduce the number of teenagers with alcohol problems. ● Studies in Maine and Michigan, both of which had recently raised their drinking ages, show that the number of alcohol-related traffic accidents involving young drivers declined. |
Rybak |
● Reduce teenage drinking and driving. ● Irrefutable statistics from Maine and Michigan show the effectiveness of raising the drinking age. ● Alcohol-related traffic accidents are disproportionately high among the young. |
Gelsi (in support of an amendment to raise the drinking age to 20) |
● Make the drinking age the same as the one in Massachusetts. |
Cappelletti |
● Reduce teenage alcohol-related traffic accidents and fatalities. |
Migliaro |
● Youths cannot control themselves when they drink. ● Reduce suicides by youths. |
Rudolf |
● Prevent high school students from drinking in school parking lots and during school. |
Van Norstrand |
● Reduce the carnage on the highway. |
Emmons |
● Reduce teenagers' access to alcohol. |
Senate Proceedings
Gunther |
● Many states that lowered the drinking age in the early 70s have since raised it. ● Most citizens would like to raise it to 21. |
Smith |
● Reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities. ● Rhode Island and Massachusetts have both increased the drinking age. ● Reduce teenagers' access to alcohol. ● Reduce alcoholism among teenagers. |
Johnson |
● Reduce teenagers' access to alcohol. |
Ciarlone |
● Reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities. ● A step in a larger effort to prevent alcoholism |
Ballen |
● Get alcohol out of high school |
Rogers |
● Necessary because parents have abdicated their responsibility to educate their children on how to deal with alcohol |
1983
The General Assembly increased the drinking age to 20 in 1983. Representative Balducci introduced an amendment on the House floor to increase the drinking age to 21. It failed. Representative Fritz then offered an amendment to the same underlying bill to raise the drinking age to 20. The House adopted it and the Senate concurred.
House Proceedings
Balducci |
● Sixteen states set 21 as the drinking age. ● Too many traffic accidents are alcohol-related. ● Youths between 16 and 19 die at twice the national rate in alcohol-related accidents. ● Beginning in 1976, 14 states have raised their drinking age. In those states, alcohol-related traffic fatalities declined 28%. |
Fritz |
● Both Rhode Island and Massachusetts set 20 as their drinking ages. |
Benvenuto |
● After Connecticut raised its drinking age to 19, New York followed suit. It may do so again. |
Senate Proceedings
Smith |
● In 1982, 20 youths aged 19 died in traffic accidents, more than any other age. ● The drinking age is 20 in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. |
Gunther |
● Maine raised its drinking age to 20 and experienced a 33% decline in the number of fatal accidents and a 42% decline in the number of fatalities. |
Martin |
● The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all states adopt a minimum 20-year old drinking age |
Schneller |
● Among 16 to 21 year olds, alcohol-related traffic accidents are the leading cause of death. ● There has been a 25% decrease in alcohol-related traffic accidents in states that have increased the drinking age. |
Martin |
● This will save lives. |
1985
The federal government passed a law in 1984 requiring the transportation secretary to withhold 5% of most categories of transportation grants for federal FY 87 from a state unless it had established 21 as the drinking age by October 1, 1986 (PL 98-363, codified as 23 USC 158). The law required the secretary to increase the withholding to 10% in the following years if a state still did not raise its drinking age to 21.
The federal law framed the 1985 debate in Connecticut. Advocates stressed the need to have a uniform drinking age. The Office of Fiscal Analysis fiscal note projected that the state would lose, if it did not raise the drinking age to 21, $7.6 million in federal FY 87 and $15.2 million the following fiscal year. The act raising Connecticut's drinking age to 21 took effect on September 1, 1985, thirteen months before the federal deadline (PA 85-264).
General Law Committee Public Hearing
Representative Hartley |
● Drinking and driving is one of the greatest causes of injury and death among young adults. |
Mr. Pfann |
● Other states have saved lives by raising the drinking age to 21. ● In Connecticut, drivers age 20 and under constitute 9.45% of total operators, but account for 14.58% of all arrests and 10% of traffic-related deaths. ● Even though the federal government has given states until October 1986 to raise the drinking age, we think it should be done as soon as possible. ● There should be a national drinking age of 21. |
Ms. Ricci |
● Raising the drinking age to 21 will prevent “border hopping” and the resulting traffic fatalities. |
Sandy Lockwood |
● Will become a part of a uniform drinking age of 21. |
Martin Spring |
● Reduce crossing the border to find a lower drinking age. |
Submitted by Automobile Association of America |
● The drinking driver crash rate of young adults is a critical traffic safety problem. ● Increases in the legal drinking age produce substantial traffic safety benefits. |
Representative Prague |
● Reduce alcohol availability in high schools |
Representative Adamo |
● Reduce alcohol-related traffic accidents and fatalities. |
Mayor Minichino |
● The drinking age should be uniform to eliminate the incentive to cross the state border to find a lower drinking age. |
Jim Sullivan |
● A uniform drinking age will reduce drinking and driving. |
Robert Ouellette |
● Reduce drunken driving ● Conformity with the drinking ages in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. ● For each year of delay, there will be more accidents and deaths on the highways. |
Donald McConnell |
● Reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities. |
House Proceedings
Dickinson |
● Will save lives immediately. ● The pending federal mandate, which becomes effective in October of next year, states that any state that has not raised the drinking age to 21 faces loss of federal highway funds. |
Taylor |
● When in high school, it became easier to find someone to buy alcohol after the drinking age was lowered to 18. |
Migliaro |
● Reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities. |
Prague |
● Reduce access to alcohol among high school students. |
Niedermeier |
● Because of the federal mandate, this is as much a transportation bill as a drinking age bill. |
Fusco |
● Drinking age uniformity among the states will save lives. |
Antonetti |
● Promotes uniformity and conformity among the states on this issue. |
Senate Proceedings
Upson |
● Ensure that we will not lose federal funds. ● Reduce lives lost in alcohol-related traffic accidents. |
R. Johnston |
● In nearly every state that raised the drinking age, there has been a reduction in the death toll among teenage drivers. |
Consoli |
● Promote safety. |
Morton |
● This measure is just part of the solution to addressing the problems caused by lliquor. |
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