If a new proposed ordinance passes, Austin would join at least 30 other cities or counties in Minnesota that punish people for hosting parties where minors drink alcohol.

The so-called “social host” ordinance, which will be discussed at a Monday city council work session and then likely be up for a vote Nov. 16, would give local law enforcement and prosecutors another tool in combating underage drinking, supporters say.

“I really have confidence that this is a good ordinance,” said Bonnie Rietz, former mayor of Austin and current member of the Austin Area Drug Task Force.

It was that task force that ultimately came up with the draft ordinance, an idea that has been in the works for some time and was inspired by a similar ordinance in Albert Lea, Rietz said.

There is no specific state law regarding social hosts — only penalties for those who actually furnish alcohol to minors.

The proposed ordinance, which resembles social host laws in many other Minnesota communities, would hold someone responsible for allowing minors to consume alcohol at a public or private property and not taking steps to prevent it — even if that person is not at the property at the time.

It would exclude religious observations or instances when a minor consumes alcohol with only his or her parents around, but someone found guilty of violating the ordinance would face a misdemeanor.

Rietz said that would give law enforcement some “teeth” — and she added that officials in Albert Lea have applauded their ordinance since it was adopted last December.

“Yes, it’s working for them,” Rietz said.

Police chief Paul Philipp, who is also on the task force, said he too has heard Albert Lea officials praise their new, tougher law.

Philipp said underage drinking is a problem in Austin but this ordinance would allow parents and others a better way to fight it.

“They work,” he said of social host laws.

St. Paul is the most recent city to enact a social host ordinance — the measure passed Wednesday, according to the Star Tribune — and it did so quite easily.

The ordinance passed unanimously and a public hearing held earlier did not provide any dissent, the Star Tribune reports.

But that’s not always the case — discussion on social host laws sometimes brings up questions of how to prove responsibility and whether the ordinances may be too invasive into peoples’ homes.

“It’s been a controversial ordinance in other communities,” Philipp said.

But Rietz said the potential reward — saving the lives of young men and women who may endanger themselves by drinking — is worth any criticism.

“If you think of the consequences,” she said, “the argument (against) really diminishes.”