SB 235-ALCOHOL: LOCAL OPTION/LICENSING/MINORS  CHAIR OLSON announced the consideration of SB 235. ANNE CARPENETI, Criminal Division, Department of Law, said SB 235 includes suggestions from three sources to try and curb alcohol abuse, particularly in rural areas with a local option. The bill prohibits sending alcohol to local option communities in plastic bottles. It provides for mandatory civil penalties on licensees whose agents or employees have been convicted of furnishing alcohol to a minor. It will adopt a Class C felony for a third offense of bringing alcohol into a local option area with a look-back period of ten years. It adopts mandatory terms for bootleggers, similar to drunk driving. The bill amends the manslaughter law so that a person who knowingly sells alcohol in a local option area may be charged with manslaughter if the alcohol is a direct cause of someone's death. It provides for a database of children cited for minor consuming, so that police officers and courts will know a person's alcohol history. Bootleggers who are charged with the crime will be eligible for therapeutic courts if warranted. 3:48:50 PM SENATOR THOMAS moved Amendment 1, labeled 25-GS2035\A.1, as follows: Page 1, lines 3 - 4: Delete "furnishing alcohol to a minor and to civil  penalties for licensees whose agents or employees furnish  alcohol to a minor" Insert "when a conviction occurs for certain purposes  relating to alcoholic beverage licenses" Page 2, line 12, through page 3, line 23: Delete all material. Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 3, line 25: Delete "(b) of" Page 4, line 4, through page 5, line 2: Delete all material. Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 8, line 10: Delete "Sections 1, 8, and 9" Insert "Sections 1, 5, and 6" Page 8, lines 12 - 14: Delete all material. Reletter the following subsections accordingly. Page 8, line 15: Delete "Section 3" Insert "Section 2" Page 8, line 17: Delete "Sections 6 and 7" Insert "Sections 3 and 4" Page 8, line 20: Delete "Sections 10 and 11" Insert "Sections 7 and 8" CHAIR OLSON objected. SENATOR THOMAS said Amendment 1 deletes furnishing alcohol to a minor and civil penalties for licensees whose agents or employees furnish alcohol to a minor. It does not remove from statute "the concept that furnishing alcohol to a minor that there are civil penalties to the licensee. There already exist such penalties in the existing statute." He said Page 2, line 13 (a), of the bill speaks of permits being suspended or revoked if the board finds: "and then it lists paragraphs (1) through (12), (12) being the additional language that was part of this bill." That is what Amendment 1 would remove -- language that holds the licensee responsible for the acts of their employees. "In this land we are held responsible for what we do, not for what other people do." He read parts of (11) of the bill regarding suspending or revoking a license if a licensee knowingly or recklessly violates the law. 3:51:52 PM SENATOR THOMAS said, "We hold people responsible, licensees, and we also require them to post signs in their establishment that are available telling the employees what they should do. Not only do they have classes on what they should do, but they also are required to place a sign that reads: Warning. A person who provides alcoholic beverages to a person under 21 years of age, if convicted under AS04.16.051, could be imprisoned for up to five years and be fined up to $50,000. That seems like a pretty fair warning, and it is required by law that the person does it." The licensee shouldn't be held responsible for the actions of another person. "Last year we had discussions about a particular bill that would have allowed three men in a particular situation to leave the premises where a woman was being beaten to death, and there was found, at that point in time, no reason to change that law, and that bill was set aside, or that aspect of the bill was taken out that would have held those people responsible for not reporting that crime." It is incongruent to let someone walk away from a homicide, versus this situation when someone does not even know that a violation is taking place. 3:54:00 PM SENATOR WAGONER said the Senate made a terrible mistake last year on that legislation based on one person's legal opinion without getting a legal opinion from the Attorney General's office. Two wrongs don't make a right. MS. CARPENETI said Amendment 1 would remove the civil penalties for licensees. There are other provisions in SB 235 that are not dependent on that being there, "so the bill could stand alone without it." But the DOL opposes Amendment 1, because … of the experience seen with tobacco enforcement. If store owners have responsibility for their employees, they will be much more responsible. It is a good tool to discourage sales to minors. 3:55:57 PM SENATOR WAGONER asked if that law on tobacco sales caused the graph "to do that." MS. CARPENETI said, "We believe so." A roll call vote was taken. Senators Thomas, Kookesh, and Stevens voted in favor of Amendment 1, and Senators Wagoner and Olson voted against. Amendment 1 passed on a vote of 3-2. 3:57:02 PM SENATOR THOMAS moved to report SB 235, as amended, from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). There being no objection, CSSB 235(CRA) moved out of committee. The committee took an at-ease from 3:57:44 PM to 4:00:35 PM.