How are laws made? Lowering the Drinking Age, a collaborative project

How are laws made?
There are two general areas of law: civil and criminal. Most of the laws that affect your life and mine are made at the state level. In this project, we will look at the process in Pennsylvania; and examine a potential change in state law.

Collaborative Project: Lowering the Drinking Age.

You and the members of your group are part of a lobbying firm who has been hired to express their views on a potential piece of legislation.

Some state senators are considering lowering the state drinking age to 18. Backed by Restaurant Groups and some University Presidents, they argue lowering the drinking would decriminalize behavior that is detrimental to students and generate lost revenue for restaurants and bars due to the smoking ban.

Opponents like M.A.D.D argue this would result in more traffic deaths due to alcohol impaired driving, and some University Presidents counter decriminalization would lead to even more reckless behavior.

The job of your group will be to research for information supporting its claims. You will post this information on a wiki page at www.currentevents001.wikispaces.com (002 for second period). Your material must be representative of the facts and point of view of your client. The material should be well organized, with transitions so outsiders can read the research. Your group will then compose a letter addressed to our State Representative John Evans expressing and detailing your client’s position. Finally, your group will present its views to the class, in a presentation.

We will use the 60 Minutes investigation “The Debate On Lowering The Drinking Age - CBS News” as a beginning for the discussion.