New ordinance in Pico Rivera aims to curtail underage drinking at house parties

Beginning January 12, Pico Rivera will begin holding non-commercial property owners responsible for underage drinking at parties on their properties.

The new law establishes misdemeanor fines for any individual who hosts or allows a noisy or disorderly gathering at a private residence or property.

City Manager Steve Carmona referred to these specific parties as “promoter parties.”

The city of Pico Rivera, whose Hispanic population (89.9%) is one of the largest in the state of California. will begin enforcing this recently adopted Social Host ordinance, a law that seeks to combat underage drinking, a phenomenon that has increased over the last few years.

The state of California allows individuals under 21 to consume alcohol in a private location if a parent, guardian or relative over the age of 21 is present. However, the new law would allow the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s to act as an enforcement tool on private properties hosting house parties, often promoted on social media and therefore easily accessible to underage youth.

"These parties often have DJs, entertainment and will charge money at the door for entrance,” Carmona told CALÒ NEWS. “You have different people from different backgrounds coming to these parties; some have gang affiliations, and if you mix everyone together and factor in alcohol or other illegal drugs, it's just a recipe for disasters."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, youth under the age of 21, who drink alcohol are more likely to experience social, educational and health problems such as higher rates of absences, lower grades, fighting, illnesses, unwanted, unplanned, and unprotected sexual activity, disruption of normal growth or sexual development, memory problems, misuse of other substances, and legal problems such as alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes.

"In recognizing the urgent need to protect our community's youth and maintain peace within our neighborhoods, we have taken a significant step forward by adopting the Social Host ordinance,” Pico Rivera Mayor Andrew C. Lara said. “This innovative law reinforces our commitment to responsible property ownership and the well-being of our residents. By holding non-commercial property owners accountable for underage drinking on their premises, we aim to deter easy access to alcohol among our youth."

The ordinance was incentivized by various studies and surveys that called attention to the rapid growth of underage drinking and alcohol acquisition.

A 2021-2022 California Healthy Kids survey of 11th graders in the El Rancho Unified School District, located in the city of Pico Rivera, reported that 23% of students found it “very easy” to obtain alcoholic beverages, while 19% indicated “fairly easy.”

Carmona also said that to effectively prevent these promoter parties, they have also developed a dashboard to track certain keywords used when promoting these parties through the different social media platforms. “We are also using artificial intelligence to track those parties so we can proactively go out and shut these parties off before they even get started,” he said.

According to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Pico Rivera Station, they received 853 service calls for loud parties or music disturbing the peace between October 2022 and October 2023. Many of them are from private or underground party promoters who charge admission, serve, or allow alcohol consumption on their premises. The department said these events also lack security and have, in many cases, led to violent and often deadly outcomes for partygoers in Pico Rivera.

The city of Pico Rivera hopes to reduce and ultimately stop these eventslike the incident reported by Los Cerritos News in August, where three victims were stabbed at a house party (that hosted about 100 teenagers) on Beverly Road and Pra Drive.

“We understand that underage house parties can disrupt the tranquility of our neighborhoods,” Lara said. “Together, we're closing the gap in state laws to address the pressing issue of underage drinking and foster a safer, more responsible community for all."

Those who violate the new law will receive monetary fines of $2,500 for the first violation, $3,500 for the second violation within 12 months of the first, and $5,000 for the third violation within 12 months. In addition, the ordinance also allows for cost recovery by law enforcement or emergency service providers from the responsible party.

Carmona assures that this ordinance will not have any impact on regular birthdays or family gatherings. “There was some concern that this ordinance would affect that, but this ordinance was not designed for that. People are allowed to have parties; we exclusively want to target those specific gatherings that foster underage drinking and are profit-motivated,” he said.

The city of Pico Rivera would be one of the first cities to adopt an ordinance like this.

“It’s a good thing to be innovative when it comes to creating public policy. The quality of life of our residents is extremely important to our city council, so I think it is important to be the trendsetter. Unfortunately, we have to do it in this particular case, but if we didn't do it then these native events would continue to happen,” Carmona said.