Alcohol bill now law

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Jim Gibbons has signed into law a bill making adults, including parents, liable for civil damages if they knowingly allow minors to drink alcoholic beverages and those minors subsequently cause accidents.

Gibbons signed Sen. Valerie Wiener's Senate Bill 7 late Tuesday, making Nevada the 34th state with a "social hosting" law.

Wiener, D-Las Vegas, who was unavailable for comment Wednesday, has tried for several sessions to pass such legislation because of incidents in Clark County in which children died in accidents after adults allowed them to drink.

Supporters said that adults would have to "knowingly" allow children or underage friends to drink or use drugs before they could be held responsible under the law.

The adults could not be charged in cases in which minors took alcoholic beverages without their knowledge or drove away in the family car against their wishes.

Wiener said her bill will make adults think twice at places where they are in control about allowing underage people to drink.