Obamacare – the Catalyst for the Deterioration of a National Minimum Drinking Age
By Kathryn VanDeveer, Staff Writer
The national drinking age may a thing of the past and it is all due to Obamacare. Two states, Minnesota and California, are presently advancing proposals to lower their state’s drinking age.
In 1984, long after Congress repealed Prohibition, they initiated the national federal minimum drinking age that we know of today by bribing states via withholding federal highways funding.[1] States initially challenged this conditional increase in minimum drinking age to 21 as coercive and as a violation of the 21st Amendment.[2] In South Dakota v. Dale, the Supreme Court agreed that the 21st Amendment grated the States virtually all control over sale and importation of liquor;[3] but the minimum drinking age Amendment did not withdraw the states’ power to control the regulation and consumption of alcohol.[4] And even if states refused to adopt the conditioned increase, they would lose a mere 5% of federal highway funding which was hardly coercive.[5] The Court determined that Congress may, pursuant to its broad spending power, encourage state action by attaching conditions to the receipt of federal funds.[6] Congress’ conditional grant under its spending must be: (1) exercised for general welfare; (2) clearly and unambiguously stated; (3) related to the federal interest in particular national programs and projects.[7] Here, the Supreme Court agreed with Congress that the unambiguous uniformed increased drinking age was necessary to protect the general welfare because the lack of uniformity in drinking ages incentivized younger individuals to commute to boarding states with lower drinking ages – leading to drinking and driving; therefore, there was a reasonable connection between maintaining safe highways and prohibiting drinking by persons under 21.[8] Accordingly, Congress obtained compliance from all States to accept the increased minimum drinking age of 21 by bribing them in order to receive full federal highway funding.
Now fast forward 31 years. Supporters of decreasing the minimum drinking age argue it would lessen the novelty effect of alcohol to U.S. college students, decreases binge-drinking, fake-IDs, and instead enable younger individuals to learn to drink socially and responsibly, similar to as in Europe.
Minnesota is currently proposing two separate bills to lower the drinking age.[9] One bill lowers the drinking age to 19.[10] And the second bill would allow individuals younger than 21 to drink in restaurants and bars within the presence of a parent, guardian, or spouse of legal age 21.[11] Initially, both bills would have prohibited anyone under 21 from purchasing alcohol in stores.[12] However, the bills as currently drafted no longer contain this prohibition.
Additionally, California is following Minnesota’s trail blazing path. A California citizen put forth a draft ballot measure to lower the legal age to 18 to both purchase and consume alcohol.[13] In order to be added to the ballot, the measure requires 365,880 valid signatures by April 26, 2016.[14] However, some businesses worry that lowering the drinking age will cause a domino effect leading younger children to get fake IDs.[15] And a 2014 Gallup poll revealed that only 25 percent of Americans would support lowering the federal drinking age to 18.[16]
Minnesota state Rep. Phyllis Kahn argues that lowering the drinking age should no longer result in loss of federal highway funding as was the case in South Dakota v. Dale. The reasoning being that the Supreme Court recently found that a condition attached by the federal government to federal funding is coercive and unconstitutional – such as the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion requirement which the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 was unconstitutional for the federal government to compel states to act in a certain way by withholding funding.[17] Rep. Joe Atkins, the lead Democrat of the House of Commerce Committee in Minnesota, does not support either of the laws but does agree that the drinking age could be legally altered without violating federal laws.[18]
Ultimately, the federal government must choose whether to uphold the precedent that it has set in the Obamacare ruling and allow the states to once again be in full control of their own drinking age laws without the threat of loss of federal funding or maintain the 31 year status quo.
[1] PL 98–363 (HR 4616), PL 98–363, July 17, 1984, 98 Stat 435.
[2] South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 205 (1987).
[3] Id.
[4] S. Dakota, 483 U.S. 203, 206.
[5] S. Dakota, 483 U.S. at 211.
[6] S. Dakota, 483 U.S. at 206.
[7] S. Dakota, 483 U.S. at 207.
[8] S. Dakota, 483 U.S. at 209.
[9] Doug Belden, Twin Cities Local News, Minnesota Drinking Age Debate Resurfaces with Federal Ruling, http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27469941/kahn-again-proposes-lower-drinking-age, (May 2, 2015).
[10] 2015 Minnesota House File No. 2141, Minnesota First Regular Session of the Eighty-Ninth Legislative Session, 2015 Minnesota House File No. 2141, Minnesota First Regular Session of the Eighty-Ninth Legislative Session.
[11] 2015 Minnesota House File No. 486, Minnesota First Regular Session of the Eighty-Ninth Legislative Session, 2015 Minnesota House File No. 486, Minnesota First Regular Session of the Eighty-Ninth Legislative Session.
[12] Doug Belden, Twin Cities Local News, Minnesota Drinking Age Debate Resurfaces with Federal Ruling, http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27469941/kahn-again-proposes-lower-drinking-age, (May 2, 2015).
[13] Steven Nelson, U.S. News & World Report, Want to Lower the Drinking Age? You’ll Have to Work for It, http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/10/initiative-to-lower-drinking-age-in-california-faces-big-obstacles, (November 10, 2015).
[14] Id.
[15] Tess Hedrick, KSFY, Proposal to Lower Drinking Age to 18 in Minnesota, (February 18, 2015).
[16] Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup, Americans Still Oppose Lowering the Drinking Age, http://www.gallup.com/poll/174077/lowering-drinking-age.aspx, (July 24, 2014).
[17] Doug Belden, Twin Cities Local News, Minnesota Drinking Age Debate Resurfaces with Federal Ruling, http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27469941/kahn-again-proposes-lower-drinking-age, (May 2, 2015).
[18] Scott Falkner, Inquisitir, Drinking Age Looking to Drop to 18 – Is Your State Included?, http://www.inquisitr.com/2567749/drinking-age-looking-to-drop-to-18-is-your-state-included/, (November 15, 2015).
