APIS Announces Update of Alcohol Policy Information

The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS), a project by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, announces its latest update of state-by-state alcohol policies. The January 1, 2008, update is now posted to the site. The update covers the period January 2, 2007, through January 2, 2008.

APIS is an online resource that provides detailed information on selected alcohol-related policies across the United States.

In all, the update includes more than 35 changes in state alcohol policy statutes and regulations. Among the most prominent of these changes are:

Health Policy:

• Four states (Illinois, Indiana, Maine, and Oregon) and the District of Columbia have adopted provisions that specifically prohibit insurers from denying payment for insurance benefits for losses due to intoxication of the insured (also referred to as UPPL laws – Uniform Accident and Sickness Policy Provision Laws). In all cases except Maine, laws that specifically permitted denial of insurance were repealed. Seven states and D.C. have enacted prohibitions in the last two years.
• Colorado amended its health insurance parity law requiring insurance companies to provide alcohol-related coverage. Previous law only required that insurers offer such coverage.

Alcohol and Pregnancy:

• Two states, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, have adopted laws imposing reporting requirements on health professionals regarding suspicion or evidence of alcohol use or abuse by women during pregnancy. Louisiana’s law applies to physicians, and Pennsylvania’s law applies to health care providers.
• Two states, Louisiana and Alaska, have adopted alcohol and pregnancy laws related to child abuse and child neglect. These laws pertain to clarification of rules of evidence of prenatal alcohol exposure in child welfare proceedings.
• Alaska has adopted a law that provides priority access to substance abuse treatment for pregnant and postpartum women who abuse alcohol.
• Texas has adopted a mandatory warning sign law related to alcohol and pregnancy for on-sale retailers.
• Minnesota has adopted a civil commitment law for pregnant women who abuse alcohol. This brings to five the number of states with laws that either involuntarily commit a pregnant woman to treatment or involuntarily place a pregnant woman in protective custody of the state for the protection of a fetus from prenatal exposure to alcohol.
• Louisiana has adopted a criminal prosecution law pertaining to alcohol and pregnancy. These provisions prohibit the use of results of medical tests, such as prenatal screenings or toxicology tests, as evidence in the criminal prosecution of women who may have caused harm to a fetus or a child.

Underage Drinking:

• Iowa and South Carolina have adopted keg registration laws.
• Alaska has adopted a law to impose criminal liability on those who host underage drinking parties, and Illinois and Kansas have strengthened their hosting laws.
• Oregon and Utah increased the applicable age of their “use/lose” laws (loss of driving privileges for alcohol violations by minors) from 18 to 21, and South Carolina adopted a prohibition against underage consumption of alcohol.

Alcohol and Motor Vehicles:

• Pennsylvania reduced its blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for operators of recreational watercraft from 0.10 to 0.08 percent.
• Wyoming made its open container law applicable to all occupants of a vehicle, bringing its law into conformity with federal standards.

Many of these changes are consistent with the goal of reducing underage drinking and its consequences as well as alcohol-related death and injury in the general population.

This project has been funded with federal funds from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN267200800007C.

Visit the APIS Web site to obtain details on these important policy developments and to review other changes in alcohol policy across the country.