Earlier this week, Senate President Peter Micciche’s Senate Bill 9, a bill he’s worked on for a lengthy period of time, passed the state Senate. The total 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.
Sen. Micciche gives an overview of how the bill will affect the public:
“This bill is about promoting a fair business climate while protecting public health and safety. When you think about team members, the hundreds of people that have been involved in this, this is everyone from local city council members to people that like to drink alcohol to the people who alcohol has destroyed their lives. It will have greater control on the illegal distribution of alcohol to rural Alaska, which is a major, major social problem that leads to so many things. It will have greater controls on tracking kegs. If someone buys a keg, thinking it’s a good idea to use it to have a huge high school party somewhere, the keg will have a tag on it, we’ll be able to know who actually purchased the keg and who supplied it to minors that are consuming that are underage.”
Micciche told host Duane Bannock of KSRM’s “Sound Off” that the way the licensing and endorsement structure will work is that:
“There will finally be some money for enforcement. We all know that there are folks that don’t operate their facilities quite as well as you do (Duane). If it’s a place where the police are called often and underage are served often, there are things that are very decisive on the way violations are handled. If you have a server that has a tendency to serve those that are underage or overserve those that are already have had too much to drink, the owner of the facility will also be cited. As a consumer, there’ll be more options. The breweries will less constraints on them. they’ll be able to have fun in a brewery in a tasting room. They’ll be able to have a few events a year. They’ll be able to have community events there. Instead of having a soft close at 8:00 p.m., they’ll be open till 10:00 p.m. You can go in and get a beer until 10 o’clock, but at 10 o’clock everyone must be out of the building.”
Click here for more information on SB 9. Additionally, click here to listen to Hour 1 of Thursday’s episode of “Sound Off” to listen to Sen. Micciche’s entire interview.
