BALTIMORE, Md. — Lawmakers in Baltimore City pushed for a bill to strengthen penalties on businesses that serve city school students during school hours.
Currently, businesses are not allowed to serve students under the age of 16 during school hours, from 7:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. If they do, they face a fine of $500.
City Councilman Kristerfer Burnett introduced the bill to double those fines. He brought up the bill during a council hearing on public safety Wednesday.
"Talking to parents, talking to community leaders, folks just feel like the commercial businesses are being good partners in this work, and there needs to be more done to bring them in compliance with the 2014 law as well as we can all agree, our young people need to be safe in the city of Baltimore," Councilman Burnett said.
The bill had its first hearing on the bill in early January.
SEE MORE: Lawmakers want increased fines on places serving food to students during school
It comes after the death of 16-year-old Deanta Dorsey, who was shot and killed in front of the Popeyes in the Edmondson Village Shopping Center.
Police say he and four other students had gone across the street from their high school, Edmondson Westside, to get Popeyes for lunch. The four other students were injured in that shooting.
Police are still looking for the shooters.
SEE MORE: Family, friends hold vigil for teen killed in Edmondson Village shooting
Councilwoman Odette Ramos also weighed in on the importance of the bill.
"I would also like to posit, and the school system already knows how I feel about this, if we improve school lunches, the kids will not be leaving," she said during the hearing.
People who live around the Edmondson Village Shopping Center told WMAR-2 News in January that the fines may not be enough to create real change in the area.
The council did not decide next steps for the bill at Wednesday's hearing.
