Committee shuts down tailgating bill

Talk about it

BISMARCK — A bill popularly conceived as a ban on tailgating at North Dakota universities got a big thumbs-down Wednesday from the House Education Committee.

Thirteen of 15 committee members recommended “do not pass” to fellow lawmakers, mostly because they didn’t feel the Legislature needed to get involved in issues that the universities seem able to handle on their own.

House Bill 1212, authored by Rep. Chuck Damschen, R-Hampden, would ban alcohol sale and use at venues hosting collegiate athletic events, including adjacent land that such venues may own, parking lots, in other words.

Damschen, defending his bill Tuesday, said he felt that athletic events and alcohol were tied too closely together in popular culture, which is unfair to young people. He targeted state universities, he said, because they get tax dollars.

Damschen wasn’t present at the Education Committee discussion of his bill Wednesday.

Rep. Corey Mock, D-Grand Forks, a University of North Dakota alumnus representing a district that includes campus, said that when he was a student representative to the Legislature’s Youth Council, underage drinking was an issue, too, but the group concluded it’s a societal problem, not a legislative problem.

There are already laws forbidding those younger than 21 from drinking, he said. The group thought working with families was better than passing laws, he said.

By Tu-Uyen Tran reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.

Tags: north dakota legislature, news, tailgating, bill