Minnesota restaurants lobby lawmakers to allow 17-year-olds to serve alcohol

Part of the restaurant worker shortage in Minnesota is that people younger than 18 can serve food to patrons, but not alcohol.

Rep. Tim O'Driscoll (R-Sartell) decided to work on a legislative fix after hearing from a restaurant owner who has to take trays of alcohol from the bar to the tables, walking past his servers who are only prevented from doing so because they’re under 18.

Restaurants in the St. Cloud area want to be able to retain employees for a few years and a change to the age requirement could also help with that, O’Driscoll said.

He sponsors HF1545 and HF2027 to allow 17-year-olds to serve or sell intoxicating liquor at establishments that have an on-sale intoxicating liquor license. The House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee laid over both bills Thursday.

Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa) said that businesses in his district, which includes the large service industry in the Brainerd Lakes area, face the same challenges as the St. Cloud area.

“This is a very important issue and the change in statute would be significant and very positively impactful in my district,” Heintzeman said.

But hospitality union UNITE HERE Local 17 is opposing the bill on the grounds that it’s inappropriate for children to serve alcohol to adults.

Political Director Wade Luneburg said they’re worried about the liability of a minor serving alcohol where their judgment and inexperience could lead to serving a minor, a secret shopper or someone who is over the legal limit that could result in a fatality. That could put other workers and employers at risk of losing their jobs and the establishment losing its liquor license.

“We believe that adults should be serving and selling to adults,” he said.

West Virginia and Maine are the only states that allow 17-year-olds to serve alcohol, and they require it to be done under supervision. The proposed bill doesn’t include a supervision requirement and would make Minnesota an outlier compared to other states, he said.