Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Senate Bill 9 into law at O’Malley’s on the Green in Anchorage on Thursday. SB 9 is a rewrite of Alaska’s Title 4 statutes and significantly modernizes laws governing the state’s alcohol industry. According to Senate President Peter Micciche, who was the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 9, the legislation is a product of extended collaboration of more than 100 stakeholders from industry sectors including public health and safety, the alcohol industry, municipal governments, youth advocates, and legislators.
Micciche tells KSRM that the Title 4 rewrite bill allows the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to regulate the alcoholic beverage industry in a manner that promotes public safety and health while supporting the industry’s continued growth and economic viability:
“Senate Bill 9 was signed into law yesterday by Governor Dunleavy and I think, as folks know, we’ve worked on this for about a decade with people from all over the state. What the bill does is it puts in place to combat the number one substance abuse problem we have in Alaska and that’s called alcohol while still modernizing very backward and heavy-handed laws from the state that simply didn’t fit today’s industry. It was a great effort by over 1,500 people through the years. We got it to the point where it was ready to pass. Yesterday it was ready to sign and today it’s law. So we’re very happy about that and we’re looking forward to that bill being put into play over the next year and a half or so.”
According to Sen. Micciche, SB 9 promotes a fair business climate while protecting public health and safety; creates regulation for all 3 tiers of the state’s alcohol industry; limits youth access to alcohol, promoting responsible alcohol use, reducing overconsumption, and putting bootleggers out of business; restructures and reorganizes the licensing system to include defined categories of licenses, permits, and a new concept of endorsements; and expands rights of municipalities to petition for additional licenses within their boundaries.
Click here for more information on SB 9.
