The Senate voted to concur with the House of Representative’s changes to Senate President Peter Micciche’s Senate Bill 9 that passed the House on Saturday. The bill aims to modernize laws governing Alaska’s alcohol industry relating to alcoholic beverages, regulation of manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers of alcoholic beverages, including licenses, endorsements, and permits involving alcoholic beverages, as well as common carrier approval to transport or deliver alcoholic beverages. It also deals with the regulations designated by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
On the house floor Sunday, Rep. James Kaufman (Anchorage) said that despite it being such a large bill, 90% of it is simple reorganization and reordering of Alaska’s alcohol statutes:
“The efforts over the past nine years along with the work of most others in the building and hundreds of stakeholders across the state have brought us to this point in the rewrite of the statutes governing alcohol in Alaska. Although we focus on opioids and other drugs, alcohol remains, by far, the number one most abused substance in Alaska, however, it is also a very important industry for those with a healthy relationship with alcohol. This bill is not a special interest bill, but it’s an every interest bill with input and support from public health and safety, the alcohol industry, the municipalities, and the travel industry. As a great example for the legislature, factions that started out this process, 180 degrees out from each other, got to a point where each of them have repeatedly provided formal support on the record. Over the past 40 years, title 4 has become a hodgepodge of disorganized, confusing, and difficult to enforce statutes that regulate the alcohol industry.”
The additions to the bill include amendments to the fair license statutes by restricting service of beer and wine at an annual fair. It also amends the manufacturing retail license by limiting the service of brewed beverages, wine, or distilled spirits to no later than 9:00PM. It also allows manufacturing retail licenses to be relocated from a borough to a municipality within that borough.
Sen. Micciche, who was the bill’s sponsor, previously said that the reset of Title 4 will more closely align with how the alcohol industry operates today. SB 9 now heads to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s desk for signature.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.
Click here for more information on SB 9.
