Depending on the state and city or county in which social hosting occurs, the hosting of an underage drinking party could violate three different categories of social host laws.

State Criminal Social Host Laws

In some states, the social host is held criminally liable for committing a misdemeanor, meaning the host could be punished with a monetary fine and/or up to one year in jail. (See NIAAA Alcohol Policy Information System ) As of January 1, 2006, there were 20 states with state criminal social host laws.

California has no state criminal law on social host liability. However, there is a specific situation in which parents of an underage drinker could face misdemeanor charges for allowing their child to use alcohol at home. A parent or legal guardian who knowingly permits his or her child, or a person in the company of the child, or both, who are under the age of 18 years, to consume an alcoholic beverage or use a controlled substance at the home of the parent or legal guardian is guilty of a misdemeanor if certain specified conditions are present. Pursuant to California Business & Professional Code, § 25658.2, these conditions are:

(1) As the result of the consumption of an alcoholic beverage or use of a controlled substance at the home of the parent or legal guardian, the child or other underage person has a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.05 percent or greater, as measured by a chemical test, or is under the influence of a controlled substance.

(2) The parent knowingly permits that child or other underage person, after leaving the parent's or legal guardian's home, to drive a vehicle.

(3) That child or underage person is found to have caused a traffic collision while driving the vehicle.

State Civil Social Host Laws

In some states, there is civil social host liability, which means a social host may be found liable for negligence in a private lawsuit brought by someone injured by a guest allowed to drink on the host’s private property. Civil liability pertains to statutory law and/or state court decision.

In California, there is no state civil statute allowing individuals to bring a private lawsuit. In addition, a California statute provides that social hosts who furnish alcoholic beverages to any person are immune from lawsuits for damages or injury suffered by that person or any third party, resulting from consumption of those beverages. (California Civil Code, § 1714, subd. (c); California Business & Professional Code, §§ 25602, subd. (b), 25602.1.)

City or County Municipal Ordinances

At the local level, cities and counties have at least three options for implementing social host laws:

Infraction. Some municipalities treat social host liability as a criminal matter, but the penalty is, at most, an infraction that carries with it a monetary fine rather than jail time.

Misdemeanor. Some municipalities treat social host liability as a misdemeanor, in the same way some states do, carrying possible jail time as a penalty.

Response Costs Recovery Ordinances. Some municipalities have enacted response costs recovery ordinances. Under these ordinances, offenders face no criminal penalties—no criminal monetary fines or jail time--at all. Instead, these laws declare an underage drinking party on private property a public nuisance, which threatens the public health, safety and general welfare. These ordinances hold persons who own lease or otherwise control the property on which an out of control party occurs (e.g., parents, landowners, tenants, and the party hosts) civilly responsible for the costs of police, fire, or other emergency response services associated with responding multiple times to the location of an underage drinking party.

In California, there are several cities with social host liability ordinances. These appear on this website (hyperlink).