If a state Senate bill becomes law, minors will be more easily identified by their Michigan driver’s license or ID card.
This bill, introduced by Sen. Loren Bennett, R-Canton, calls for separate driver’s licenses for minors and for adults at least 21 years of age. The minors’ licenses, which are the same as adult licenses, will become a completely different shape.
These new licenses will be vertical and will display the minor’s photo on the bottom-left corner.
This, Bennett said, will make it unmistakable to any alcohol or tobacco vendor that the individual is a minor.
“Instantly, the clerk - without having to do any kind of math - can see that the individual is under the age of 21,” Bennett said. “In many situations, the clerks don’t intend to break the law, they just don’t look at the information correctly.”
The vertical license already has been implemented in several other states including Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
“Many states have said this has been overwhelmingly successful in cutting down on illegal tobacco and alcohol sales,” Bennett said.
But the change could be costly - with a price tag of roughly a million dollars.
“I already have a commitment for $500,000 from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission,” he said. “I’m trying to get the other half million out of the tobacco settlement.”
Michigan Liquor Control Commission Chairman Dan Gustafson said the organization performs more than 3,000 sting operations a year in which a minor will attempt to purchase alcohol. The new licenses will help to eliminate mistakes.
“Over half the time they will ask for the driver’s license, look at it and sell it to the minor anyway,” Gustafson said. “In some cases the clerk is doing the math wrong and isn’t looking closely at the license.
Elizabeth Boyd, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Candice Miller, said Miller supports the bill if the legislature can fund its implementation.
Kent County Clerk Terri Lynn Land, who is running against Bennett for the Republican nomination in the 2002 Secretary of State race, said the bill is not worth the cost.
“The best way to handle the problem is to enforce the laws that already exist about underage buying,” Land said. “We should raise the fines and put law enforcement into effect to make sure the clerks are doing their job.”
Nutritional science junior Tiffany Genter said she thinks the change in the driver’s license will not have an effect upon underage drinking.
“Underage drinking isn’t going to be stopped because of the shape of your license,” she said. “If you think that, you’re just kidding yourself.”
