An interesting topic is being stirred up in the state of Wisconsin, according to a USA Today article, revolving around the current drinking age. The bill that is currently being moved through Wisconsin’s statehouse, if successful, could reduce the drinking age to 19 (usatoday.com). 

The bill was introduced on Wednesday, Nov. 8 by three Republican lawmakers (greenbaypressgazette.com) and has several obstacles to leap over in order for it to pass. These jumps will have to big if the bill hopes to evolve into a law. 

The current drinking age is 21 years of age. You may be wondering, “Why 21?” According to a Boston Local News site, the age was set through the signing of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act which forced all states to set the drinking age to 21 or else they would incur “a 10 percent cut to their federal highway funding.” 

With the threat of highway funding being withheld, Wisconsin and other states conformed. However, this new proposal is being considered that would move the drinking age down to 19. 

According to USA Today, the author of the bill is known as Adam Jarchow, a Republican representative and was presented with the help of Republican Representatives Cindi Duchow and Rob Swearingen.  

This bill, if passed, could majorly impact the policies on campus. Right now, Residence Hall Policy states that residents are prohibited from having alcoholic beverages due to state law. This would change drastically if the bill is passed into law. 

Resident Assistants (RAs) on campus are required to confront situations regarding alcohol and have to document each report accordingly. A report on underage drinking can take up to an hour and RAs typically write about anywhere between 10-20 incident reports a semester. 

University Police, along with state officers, also spend time hammering down on underage drinkers. With the passing of this bill, hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars could be saved and diverted to other projects on campus. 

UWL sophomore Matt Strother shared his thoughts on this bill, “I think the money that University Police spend on tackling underage drinking could be spent somewhere else to improve our campus. I would be in favor of this bill passing because, in the long run, it would have more positive effects than negative.” 

Not everyone agrees that this bill is a good thing, though. UWL Senior and Resident Assistant Emmi Infante says, “I think binge drinking is already super prevalent in our culture and if we reduce the drinking age to 19, then that culture would be heightened. Long term, it might be beneficial, but short term it would be more of an issue.” 

The results of this bill passing are still unclear and there is a lot more research that needs to be done. Until then, we must do our best to clearly understand the major consequences of underage drinking.