Legislature(2005 - 2006)CAPITOL 17
01/31/2005 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB61 | |
| HB35 | |
| HB15 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 35 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 61 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| = | HB 15 | ||
HB 15-SEASONAL HUNT/FISH LODGE LIQUOR LICENSE
CHAIR ANDERSON announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 15, "An Act relating to seasonal alcoholic
beverage licenses; and providing for an effective date." He
explained that he held the bill [over from the previous week]
because he wanted to ask particular lodge owners if they would
be affected by the bill. He commented that he spoke with four
lodge owners from rural, interior Alaska, and all four responded
positively to the bill.
REPRESENTATIVE KOTT moved to adopt CSHB 15, Version 24-LS0075\I,
Luckhaupt, 1/31/05 as the working document. There being no
objection, Version I was before the committee.
MICHAEL PAWLOWSKI, Staff to Representative Kevin Meyer, Alaska
State Legislature, testified on behalf of Representative Meyer,
sponsor of HB 15. He presented an overview of the changes made
in Version I. He pointed out that the name of the license was
changed to "an outdoor recreation lodge". Also, the seasonal
limitation on the lodge was removed because some lodges provide
more than one seasonal activity. He said that Section 9, page
1, line 9 has the added line:
An outdoor recreation lodge license may not be
transferred.
MR. PAWLOWSKI stated that this line was added to address Chair
Anderson's concern that the law not impact valuation on existing
licenses. He said that in Section 2, page 1, line 12-14, the
definition of lodge has been changed to include the following
phrase:
is primarily involved in offering opportunities for
persons to engage in outdoor recreation activities
MR. PAWLOWSKI commented that the above phrase was added to give
the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board ("ABC Board") specific
statutory direction. He remarked that the primary purpose of a
lodge is to provide opportunities outdoor recreation, which is
different than a hotel or motel.
4:22:15 PM
MR. PAWLOWSKI then turned to Section 3 of Version I. Because
most lodges are in areas with small populations, he opined that
the lodges need to be exempted from AS 04.11.400(a), which
governs and limits the amount of licenses that can be issued.
At the same time, he said, Version I allows the licenses to be
issued but not transferred to maintain consistency with the new
Section 2.
REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG asked if the license will be given to
the lodge or to the lodge owner. As an example, he asked if the
license would stay with the property when the lodge owner sold
the lodge.
MR. PAWLOWSKI replied that he would defer to ABC Board on this
issue, but he said that he thinks the license would be given to
the owner of the lodge. Therefore if the lodge was sold the new
owner would need to get a new license.
CHAIR ANDERSON asked if Mr. Pawlowski received a response of
opinion from the Cabaret Hotel Restaurant and Retailers
Association (CHARR) or the Alaska Restaurant and Beverage
Association (ARBA).
MR. PAWLOWSKI replied that he had not.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG turned attention to Section 2, page 1,
line 14 and asked why the minimum number of guest [rooms] is two
instead of four, six, or eight.
MR. PAWLOWSKI answered that it was difficult to write this bill
so that it would include as many different possible permutations
of an outdoor recreation lodge that exists in the State of
Alaska. He explained that some lodges are very small; he
explained that the bill allows lodges to serve alcohol "only to
the overnight guests, but in addition we've added off-duty staff
to the license to include people that are working out in the
field in these lodges and want to be able to be served when they
are off-duty." He said that the minimum number of two guest
rooms was recommended by the ABC BOARD, and this "does provide
the flexibility for a lot of the unique places in Alaska to
qualify for this license, as that is the intent."
Bob Klein, Chairman, Government Affairs Committee, CHARR, stated
that he is also retailer for Brown Jug in Anchorage, Alaska and
was speaking for both entities. He stated that he was on the
ABC Board for 12 years, nine of which he was the chairman. He
said that the bill is a way of bringing an already-occurring
practice under control. He also pointed out that the lodge
owners who acquire this license would be required to complete
[the two mandatory alcohol server training programs]: Training
for Intervention Procedures (TIPS) and Techniques in Alcohol
Management (TAM), and also would have the benefit of being
allowed to purchase from distributors or retailers, and can have
the goods sent to them. He said that [CHARR and Brown Jug]
support the bill.
4:27:38 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked how many of Brown Jug's clients
have only two beds in their lodge.
MR. KLEIN replied, "We actually raised the two beds as a
question, but Representative Meyers' group was pretty supportive
that that should be the low threshold." He commented that if
the bill is passed, "it has to go before the ABC [Board] for
further consideration and for some regulations that are attached
to it, and if two beds is too small ... they can put come
restrictions as well."
CHAIR ANDERSON pointed out that Representative Kott made the
observation that the bill states "two guest rooms", not "two
guest beds".
DOUG GRIFFIN, Director, ABC BOARD, said that Mr. Pawlowski did a
fine job on the bill. He commented that he interpreted the
"nontransferability of the license" to mean that when a lodge is
sold, the new owners would have to apply for a new license. He
stated that there shouldn't be any problem with someone applying
for a new license. He said, "We're trying to be sensitive to
the concerns of CHAR, that ... if you add transferability to the
license, it does obtain, in theory, some value".
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX asked what the rationale was in Section 3
for distinguishing between organized and unorganized boroughs.
MR. GRIFFIN explained that this is existing language that is in
the statute; the only change is the addition on subsection (m),
takes into account the lodge licenses. He said, "The whole idea
there is where you've got different standards where you've got
any kind of liquor license that's near an organized government,
that they have the ability to have some input. ... The idea is
to exempt these licenses from those population limitations."
4:32:31 PM
CHAIR ANDERSON closed public testimony.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG moved [to adopt Amendment 1, labeled 24-
LS0075\G.1, Luckhaupt, 1/20/05], "conceptually to fit into ...
[Version I]."
CHAIR ANDERSON objected for discussion purposes.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG gave an overview of Amendment 1, which
read:
Page 1, line 1, following "licenses;":
Insert "relating to transfer of certain beverage
dispensary licenses issued before June 6, 1985;"
Page 1, following line 14:
Insert a new bill section to read:
"* Sec. 3. AS 04.11.360 is amended to read:
Sec. 04.11.360. Denial of transfer of a license
to another person. An application requesting approval
of a transfer of a license to another person under
this title shall be denied if
(1) the board finds, after review of all
relevant information, that transfer of a license to
another person would not be in the best interests of
the public;
(2) the application has not been completed
in accordance with AS 04.11.280;
(3) the application contains false
statements of material fact;
(4) the transferor has not paid all debts
or taxes arising from the conduct of the business
licensed under this title unless
(A) the transferor gives security for the
payment of the debts or taxes satisfactory to the
creditor or taxing authority; or
(B) the transfer is under [PURSUANT TO] a
promise given as collateral by the transferor to the
transferee in the course of an earlier transfer of the
license under which promise the transferor is obliged
to transfer the license back to the transferee in the
event of default in payment for property conveyed as
part of the earlier transfer of the license;
(5) transfer of the license to another
person would result in violation of the provisions of
this title relating to identity of licensees and
financing of licensees;
(6) transfer of the license to another
person would violate the restrictions pertaining to
the particular license under this title;
(7) transfer of the license to another
person is prohibited under the provisions of this
title as a result of an election conducted under
AS 04.11.507;
(8) the prospective transferee does not
have the qualifications required under this title of
an original applicant;
(9) the license was issued under
AS 04.11.100(f) or 04.11.400(g); however, this
paragraph does not apply to a beverage dispensary
license issued before June 6, 1985, under former
AS 04.11.400(j); or
(10) the license was issued under
AS 04.11.135, unless the transferor is also applying
to transfer the beverage dispensary license required
under AS 04.11.135 to the same transferee."
Renumber the following bill section accordingly.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG stated,
There is one license in the state left under this
subsection [AS 04.11.400(j)] and that's the license
for the Double Musky Restaurant in Girdwood, Alaska.
And that license, the beverage dispensary license, was
issued to [the owners] ... as a special public
convenience license. And one of the provisions when
it was issued was it had no transferability ... in
other words, you couldn't transfer it at all. ... The
business ... grew very successful over the years.
[The owner is] reaching his ... retirement age. His
son ... will be taking the business over. So even
under the provisions of the state law now, [the owner]
can't even will that business to his son; there's no
way that you can transfer the license right now.
Therefore what this particular small provision [will
do is] ... change that and ... allow ... the license
to be transferred to another individual.
MR. GRIFFIN stated that the ABC Board has no problem with
Representative Rokeberg's provision.
CHAIR ANDERSON remarked, "I know, for the record, Representative
Meyer ... didn't want the bill changed because her was in fear
that maybe this would make a catalyst for someone to object to
it at a future committee hearing."
MR. PAWLOWSKI said, "I believe that Representative Meyers'
statement to me was that the primary concern he had was with how
... ABC viewed it."
CHAIR ANDERSON removed his objection. There being no other
objections, the Amendment 1 was adopted by the committee.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN moved to report CSHB 15, Version 24-
LS0075\I, Luckhaupt, 1/31/05, as amended from committee with
individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes.
There being no objection, CSHB 15(L&C) was reported from the
House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.
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