Legislature(2007 - 2008)BELTZ 211
04/23/2007 01:30 PM Senate JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB150 | |
| SB128 | |
| SB78 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 150 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 128 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 141 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | SB 78 | ||
SB 128 ALCOHOL LOCAL OPTION PROVISIONS
1:59:30 PM
CHAIR FRENCH announced the consideration of SB 128 by Senator
Donny Olson. Before the committee was CSSB 128(CRS).
GINNY AUSTERMAN, Staff to Senator Olson, sponsor of SB 128,
explained that the bill requires the Alcohol Beverage Control
(ABC) Board to create and maintain a database so that businesses
that sell alcoholic beverages can keep track of written orders
for alcohol shipped to a buyer. Whenever a written order is
received from a resident of a damp local option area, the
package store licensee is required to consult the database
before filling the order to ensure that the person has not
already ordered his or her quota for that month. The order may
only be shipped to the residence of the person placing the order
or to a community delivery site if there is one. Also, reselling
the alcohol to another person in the community would be a class
A misdemeanor.
MS. AUSTERMAN stated that having the information in a database
will prevent bootleggers from ordering from multiple package
stores in violation of the local option. Information in the
database will be available only to package stores and law
enforcement and none of the information would be public.
SB 128 also contains a provision to correct an omission in state
law. Organized boroughs would be allowed to transfer a borough
liquor license to a community within the borough that has used
its allotment of liquor licenses.
2:01:51 PM
TALIS COLBERG, Attorney General and Co-Chair of the Alaska Rural
Justice Commission, said the commission has focused on four
areas of concern in the past two years, with alcohol
interdiction as one. He explained that the commission has formed
working groups across the state and came up with action options
including the provisions in SB 128. The bill seeks to interdict
alcohol in Alaska villages with a statewide database for
tracking alcohol purchases and shipments to damp villages.
Another feature addresses possession of the ingredients for
homebrew coupled with the concept of intent. He reiterated the
Rural Justice Commission and the Department of Law support the
bill as an effort to address a major problem in rural Alaska.
2:05:54 PM
SENATOR McGUIRE referred to page 5, bill section 10 and said
it's difficult to prove intent when a person is in possession of
ingredients that could be used to make an alcoholic beverage.
She asked why it's important to include "with the intent" and if
it could be proved.
ATTORNEY GENERAL COLBERG offered the view that that language
provides a tool that gives more options. What's more problematic
in rural Alaska is enforcement because somebody has to be
available to look into the situation, he added.
2:08:07 PM
ANNE CARPENETI, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division,
Department of Law, agreed. It will be difficult to prove, but
when there is proof it will probably be good to have that tool
available.
CHAIR FRENCH said he takes it that the possession of homebrew is
illegal because it's an alcoholic beverage, so the likely charge
would be knowing possession. You wouldn't have to prove intent.
MS. CARPENETI agreed. The possession of ingredients for homebrew
only applies to dry communities, she added.
CHAIR FRENCH said it's nearly beyond comprehension that someone
would be prosecuted for the possession of sugar or yeast without
there being a bucket of homebrew nearby. Skepticism aside, he
said that as a former prosecutor he's happy to provide a tool if
it's needed. He then asked if AS 04.11.499(b) essentially
addresses buying alcohol in a dry community.
2:09:50 PM
MS. CARPENETI clarified that bootlegging is a class C felony,
but under this provision the person who buys from the bootlegger
would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if before this it was not a crime to buy
alcohol in a dry community.
MS. CARPENETI answered this would apply more in damp
communities. A person who buys alcohol from a bootlegger knowing
that is was brought in illegally, could be convicted under this
new section, she said.
CHAIR FRENCH recapped that it's a class C felony to import
alcohol in violation of a local option. He then asked if it's
illegal to possess alcohol in a dry community.
MS. CARPENETI said yes, but under current law it may not
necessarily be illegal to possess it in a damp community.
Purchasing alcohol from a bootlegger knowing that it was brought
in illegally would be a class A misdemeanor under this
provision. Normally Title 4 doesn't have penalties but this
exception is to clarify that the purchase of the bootlegged
liquor is an A misdemeanor as opposed to bootlegging itself
which is a class C felony."
CHAIR FRENCH summarized that bill section 12 is about a person
who buys alcohol in a damp community from a person who is known
to be a bootlegger.
MS. CARPENETI nodded.
2:12:42 PM
LORETTA BULLARD, President, Kawerak, Inc., Nome, said she also
serves on the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement
Commission representing a VPSO contractor. Stating support for
SB 128, she said that many of rural Alaska's social problems
revolve around alcohol and substance abuse. Those problems
include: suicide, homicide, child sexual abuse and physical
neglect, FAE and FAS, domestic violence, and accidental death
and injuries. She estimates that 90 percent of the inmates in
Alaska correctional facilities are serving time for offenses
conducted under the influence of alcohol, for consuming alcohol
while on probation, or for importing or brewing alcohol in
violation of local option laws.
MS. BULLARD said that many of the provisions in SB 128 include
the practical solutions developed as part of the Rural Justice
and Law Enforcement work group process. Noting that the bill is
weighted to address the supply side of the issue, she encouraged
the legislature to make resources available to address the
demand for and treatment of alcohol and substance abuse. Address
the problem before hand as opposed to locking people up after
the fact. She highlighted that her written testimony included a
list of options that were developed by the alcohol work group
and she wants the committee to know there are many more ideas,
including early intervention.
MS. BULLARD noted that the commission asked the legislature for
stop-gap funding to allow continued work and she encourages
members to honor that request.
2:15:55 PM
CASEY REYNOLDS, Economic Development Planner, City of Wasilla,
said his testimony relates to the relocation of liquor licenses
within boroughs into incorporated cities. Wasilla is growing
rapidly and a great deal of investment is coming into the
community. The problem is that only four beverage dispensary
licenses are available for use in the community so it's
difficult to attract new restaurants. The value of these
licenses is in the mid-six figures, which is cost prohibitive
even for national chains.
MR. REYNOLDS pointed out that restaurants need city services for
water, sewer, fire, and police so they won't locate in the area
unless they can be within the city limits. It's a Catch-22
situation because they won't go outside the city limits where
there aren't services, but they can't locate within the city
limits because they can't obtain a beverage dispensary license.
To address this problem, Wasilla has crafted a solution whereby
licenses allocated to the borough could be used inside the city
as long as both the borough and the city are in agreement. This
allows maximum efficiency for using liquor licenses without
increasing the number. The ABC Board, the Department of Public
Safety, and other communities have given this concept unanimous
support. It's good public policy, he said.
CHAIR FRENCH asked for a concrete example of where a MatSu
Borough license might be relocated within an incorporated city.
MR. REYNOLDS explained that when a restaurant, package liquor
stores, or bar goes out of business, it could sell that license
to an entity in Palmer, Wasilla, or Houston provided that both
the city and the borough approved the relocation. Those are the
only three incorporated cities that would fall into that
category in the MatSu Borough.
2:21:02 PM
DOUG GRIFFIN, Director, Alcoholic Beverage Control Board,
Anchorage, said the board does support the concept of allowing
relocation of licenses within boroughs. The fiscal note reflects
the cost of creating and maintaining the database for keeping
track of written orders for alcohol to rural Alaska. Bill
section 15 calls for the creation of a delivery site pilot
project that's not reflected in the fiscal note. Those costs are
being investigated and he anticipates that it will be a very
expensive proposition.
2:24:43 PM
CHAIR FRENCH asked him to explain how the database would work.
MR. GRIFFIN explained that in rural Alaska 80-90 communities
have voted by local option to become dry. Each month people
living in damp communities can legally order 10.5 liters of
spirits, 24 liters of wine, and 12 gallons of beer. The working
group was concerned that there was no way of knowing how many
times a person might place orders so that's how the idea for the
database came about.
2:30:37 PM
CHAIR FRENCH asked who is in charge of entering the data into
the database.
MR. GRIFFIN answered the law says the individual clerks enter
the information upon filling an order. The database would be on
a secure website that's accessible by law enforcement, but no
standard database meets the requirement for this program, which
is one reason that the fiscal note is high.
CHAIR FRENCH observed that it doesn't sound like there's any
state oversight of the database. It's designed so that one clerk
can find out if another clerk has already sold an individual a
quantity of alcohol within a given month.
MR. GRIFFIN agreed and added that the fiscal note does reflect
one criminal justice technician position which would provide
some oversight.
CHAIR FRENCH asked how he intends to monitor whether package
stores are actually entering the data.
MR. GRIFFIN replied that would require an audit.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if someone would compare the paper orders
with what is in database.
MR. GRIFFIN said yes; the technician would probably perform that
accounting function.
2:36:11 PM
SENATOR McGUIRE suggested he look at the Oregon package store
model in terms of establishing community distribution sites. For
the registry model she said he might look at how Pseudoephedrine
sales are registered and regulated. She noted that the bill
doesn't have penalties for unauthorized use of the information
in the database and it might be advantageous to include that
because privacy should be respected. She asked what penalty
would be assessed if an agent or employee fails to enter the
information in a timely manner.
MR. GRIFFIN deferred to the Department of Law.
2:39:49 PM
ANNE CARPENETI, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division,
Department of Law, Juneau, explained that penalties for
violations in Title 4 are all class A misdemeanors unless
specifically made another offense.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if failure to maintain the integrity of the
database would automatically be a criminal offense.
MS. CARPENETI said she assumes that it would be a violation for
somebody to sent alcohol without consulting the database, but
she doesn't know if you'd want it to be a class A misdemeanor or
not.
2:41:33 PM
CHAIR FRENCH said there are a number of ways to go wrong in
terms of entering the data, consulting the database, and
protecting integrity of the database, but he needs to think
about whether it's a criminal act. A fairly high duty is being
imposed on liquor store clerks, he said.
MS. CARPENETI pointed out that they are selling a controlled
substance so caution is warranted, but a class A misdemeanor
might not be the way to go. However, a person who knowingly
distributes confidential information should be held to a fairly
high standard.
CHAIR FRENCH asked what the penalty is for selling alcohol to a
minor.
MS. CARPENETI said it's a class A misdemeanor and that applies
to bartenders and pubs.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if this would become part of the training for
those who sell alcohol.
MS. CARPENETI said she would imagine so.
SENATOR McGUIRE asked if he intends to hold the bill.
CHAIR FRENCH said he would like to think about where to place
the weight on a clerk.
SENATOR McGUIRE said she'd like the penalty for unauthorized
release of confidential information contained in the database to
be specified in the bill.
2:44:37 PM
MS. CARPENETI said she'd be happy to supply amendments for the
committee to consider.
CHAIR FRENCH announced he would hold SB 128 in committee.
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