(April 24, 2007) Washington, D.C. – The National Beer Wholesalers Association presents Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard with its 2007 Legislative Excellence Award for her work on passage of a new law called, “The STOP (Sober Truth on Preventing) Underage Drinking Act.” The STOP Act makes permanent an Ad Council national media campaign directed at parents that started in 2005, coordinates all federal programs and research initiatives on underage drinking, and provides grants to institutions of higher education, states and non-profit organizations to combat underage drinking in communities. The STOP Act also supports crucial research on the health effects of underage drinking and requires the federal government to produce an annual status report on underage drinking in our country. Pictured in the photo from left to right: Beer Institute President Jeff Becker; Congresswoman Roybal-Allard; and National Beer Wholesalers Association President Craig Purser.

The following is the complete text of Congresswoman Roybal-Allard’s remarks:

“Thank you for inviting me to be here today. Three years ago, I am sure none of you could imagine a time when you would invite the “neo-prohibitionist” Congresswoman from Southern California to speak at your meeting. And quite honestly, three years ago I could never have envisioned it myself. I certainly could never have imagined it would be our joint efforts that would result in the passage of the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act or, as it is better known, The Stop Act. But that is exactly what happened!

So today represents a truly historic and successful collaboration. And I am happy to be with you to celebrate what we have accomplished together in support of our youth. As many of you know, for almost eight years I worked with a bipartisan group of House Members, Senators and Advocates to highlight the public health crisis of underage drinking in this country.

Throughout the years, we had several successes. They included the commissioning of an Institute of Medicine Report on Underage Drinking and securing the funding for a national media campaign to raise parental awareness about the scope of the underage drinking problem in our country.

But we were never able to pass the STOP Act. That began to change last spring.

It was about this time last year when my office received a call requesting a meeting from Mike Johnson representing the National Beer Wholesalers Association and Rick Goddard representing the Beer Institute.

I think our first meeting began with all of us feeling doubtful about our ability to put aside past differences and preconceived labels.

To our pleasant surprise, however, the meeting was cordial and ended with a willingness to try and work together because we realized we shared the mutual goal of ending underage drinking in this country.

Over the next several months we worked with all segments of the alcohol beverage industry, the seven STOP congressional offices, and had direct dialogue between the industry and the public health advocacy groups, who also played a key role in the passage of the STOP Act.

While there were moments of frustration, and feelings of futility - and some very late nights - our common goal of protecting the health and well being of our children kept us motivated.

In the end, this unlikely collaboration of stakeholders who had never worked together, resulted in a great success.

Each of us can take pride in the fact that the STOP Act is the first comprehensive piece of national legislation to address underage drinking in our country.

Due to your support, this new law provides resources for community coalitions and states to enhance underage drinking prevention efforts, provides research grants to find effective strategies to deter childhood drinking, makes permanent the anti-underage drinking national media campaign directed at parents and makes permanent the coordination of federal efforts through an Interagency Council.

In addition, the Secretary of HHS is now required to send to Congress an annual report on the progress states are making to address underage drinking.

The provisions of the Stop Act will help to turn the tide in our country, where in any given month, nearly 11 million youth between the ages of 12 and 20 consume alcohol. This number includes nearly one in five of 8th graders, one in three of 10th graders and half of all 12th graders. This behavior, as you know, puts our youth at greater risk for violent crime, unsafe sexual activity, teenage pregnancy, and car accidents.

Your efforts to pass and fully fund the STOP Act will help reduce those statistics.

Again, I sincerely thank you for all your hard work on behalf of our youth.

And now for their hard work and commitment to helping us pass the STOP Act, I would like to present Craig Purser of the Beer Wholesalers and Jeff Becker of the Beer Institute, with a commemorative print of the Stop Act. I hope they will serve as a reminder of our historic victory and of the great things we can accomplish when we work together on behalf of our youth.”