Senate closes loophole in social-host law

Letting minors take the beer outside won’t be a way for an adult to escape responsibility under the state’s social-host law.

Yesterday, the Senate passed a revised version of the law that criminalizes adults who allow underage drinking anywhere on their property. The bill sponsored by Sen. Walter S. Felag Jr., D-Warren, is intended to fix a loophole that the Barrington police discovered last summer after they broke up an underage party and found they couldn’t charge the mother, who was home, because the party was in the backyard. The current law says an adult can be charged when the offense is “in his or her residence.”

The law was prompted by an incident in April 2002, when a teenage boy who’d been drinking at a Barrington house party drove into a tree. At the time, the police were able to charge the man who’d bought the keg, but not the mother who allowed the party.

Felag’s bill, which passed 31 to 0, says an adult can be charged for allowing the party “on his or her real property.” The bill also increases the penalties on second and third offenses for adults who allow underage drinking, as well as for the underage drinkers.

And, those who make or distribute fake IDs or drivers’ licenses will be subject to fines.

Bill penalizes online harassment

Someone who posts harassing messages about someone on a Web site or sends harassing messages by computer or texting could be subject to a bill against “cyberharassment and cyberstalking.”

The Senate passed a bill sponsored by Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield, that makes it a crime to post information on a Web site or network that harasses a person or their family. A first offense would be a misdemeanor, subject to fines and up to a year in prison. A second offense would be a felony, up to two years in prison and up to $6,000 in fines.

Flashers could be fined, jailed

Flashers will be fined and could face up to a year in prison, under a bill sponsored by Sen. Michael McCaffrey, D-Warwick, and passed by the Senate yesterday, 33-0.

McCaffrey’s bill targets those who intentionally expose themselves to others with the intention of upsetting or frightening them. Along with a fine of up to $1,000, and possible prison, the “indecent exposure/disorderly conduct” bill also allows counseling as part of a sentence.

However, there’s no crime if someone is the unintended witness of two consenting adults in flagrante delicto, under an amendment by Sen. Charles Levesque, D-Portsmouth, that was approved by the Senate.

Catalytic converters deemed ‘precious’

The increased value of the platinum, rhodium and palladium inside catalytic converters are making the anti-smog devices as attractive to thieves as a diamond tennis bracelet. The precious metals are worth thousands of dollars an ounce, which is why thieves in Rhode Island and around the country have been cutting the catalytic converters off vehicles –– and leaving the owners with an expensive repair.

The Senate Committee on Constitutional and Regulatory Issues yesterday approved a bill by Sen. James E. Doyle III, D-Pawtucket, that would subject catalytic converters to regulation under the state’s precious metals law. That means pawnbrokers, consignment shops, salvage yard operators and secondhand dealers must treat catalytic converters the same way as jeweled rings, necklaces and other precious metals they buy and sell –– by being licensed to handle them, keep a record of the devices and retain them for two weeks.

— Compiled by staff writer Amanda Milkovits