Yes, in most cases. For someone under 21, a failed attempt to buy alcohol from a store, bar, or other licensed seller is an infraction, while a completed purchase, or having alcohol in public, is a misdemeanor. The main exception is a fake or borrowed ID: showing one to the seller is a separate misdemeanor.
The attempt itself: an infraction, not a misdemeanor
Under Business and Professions Code section 25658.5, a person under 21 “who attempts to purchase any alcoholic beverage from a licensee, or the licensee’s agent or employee, is guilty of an infraction.” A first violation carries a fine of up to $250, or 24 to 32 hours of community service (or a mix of the two), to be completed outside the person’s own work or school schedule. A second or later violation raises the range to a fine of not more than $500, or 36 to 48 hours of community service. The Legislature’s stated intent is that the community service be performed at an alcohol or drug treatment program, or a county coroner’s office, when one is available in the area.
When a fake or borrowed ID was part of the attempt
Section 25658.5 also says its penalties do not prevent prosecution under any other law. That matters if the minor handed over an ID. Under Business and Professions Code section 25661, showing a seller or its employee a fake ID, or a real one that is “not actually their own,” to get alcohol is a misdemeanor, and so is simply possessing a fake ID. It is punished by a fine of at least $250 that the court cannot suspend, by 24 to 32 hours of community service, or by a mix of both. So a turned-down attempt that involved someone else’s license or a fake one is not only an infraction.
What changes if the purchase actually goes through
An actual completed purchase is a different, more serious offense. Under Business and Professions Code section 25658(b), the law reaches any person under 21 who purchases an alcoholic beverage, or who consumes one on any on-sale premises, and treats that as a misdemeanor. The first-violation penalty under 25658(e)(1) is a $250 fine, or 24 to 32 hours of community service, or both, and any fine imposed is one “no part of which shall be suspended.” The attempt statute sets $250 only as a maximum and has no such no-suspension clause. A second or later purchase violation raises the fine to not more than $500, or 36 to 48 hours of community service.
Simply having the alcohol is its own separate offense
Even apart from how it was obtained, possessing alcohol in public as a minor is its own misdemeanor. Business and Professions Code section 25662(a) punishes any person under 21 who possesses an alcoholic beverage “on any street or highway or in any public place or in any place open to the public,” with a $250 fine or 24 to 32 hours of community service for a first violation, and up to $500 or 36 to 48 hours for a later one. The section does not apply to a minor carrying alcohol as a delivery ordered by a parent, a responsible adult relative, or another adult the parent or guardian designated, or as part of a job. A minor who does buy alcohol, or who otherwise ends up holding it in public, can face this misdemeanor separately from whatever happened at the register.
No license suspension for these offenses
An attempted purchase, a completed purchase, public possession, and a fake-ID charge do not, by themselves, suspend a minor’s driver’s license. California’s mandatory license-suspension law for under-21 offenders, Vehicle Code section 13202.5, lists the offenses that trigger it in subdivision (d): certain vehicular manslaughter convictions, a reckless driving conviction that stands in for a DUI charge, driving under 21 with a 0.05 percent blood alcohol level, and every offense in the Vehicle Code article that begins with the DUI statute. That article also contains in-vehicle alcohol offenses, including the rule against a person under 21 driving with alcohol in the car (Vehicle Code section 23224), so alcohol found in a car is a different question. No Business and Professions Code section appears anywhere on that list. Driving after drinking is a different matter; see underage DUI.
What this means in practice
If a clerk or bartender turned you down and no fake or borrowed ID was involved, the charge is the infraction, the least serious of the outcomes described here. If the purchase went through, the charge becomes a misdemeanor and the court cannot suspend any part of a fine it imposes. Holding the alcohol in public afterward is a separate misdemeanor. A second violation of any of these statutes raises the maximum fine to $500 and the community-service range to 36 to 48 hours.
If you or your child received one of these citations, the Law Offices of David S. Chesley can go over the citation and what happened at the counter. Call (800) 755-5174.