SB 16-ALCOHOL LIC:FAIRS,THEATRES,CONCERTS;BONDS  4:50:32 PM CO-CHAIR LEDOUX announced that the final order of business would be SENATE BILL NO. 16, "An Act relating to certain alcoholic beverage licenses and permits; and relating to the bond requirement for certain alcoholic beverage license holders." 4:51:13 PM EDRA MORLEDGE, Staff, Senator Peter Micciche, Alaska State Legislature, presented SB 16 on behalf of Senator Micciche, prime sponsor. She paraphrased parts of the sponsor statement [included in the committee packet], which read in its entirety as follow [ original punctuation provided]: In 2017, the Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board began to "crack down" on alcohol licenses that they deemed to not be intended under state law, placing at risk several long-time licenses important to the Alaska public. One of those license types issued under the recreational site category is the license held by the Alaska State Fair. The Alaska State Fair and other businesses have been operating under the recreational site license since 1981, and the loss of the ability to serve at the annual event would be financially devastating to the State Fair. Through the legislative process, we identified several other licenses that we believe should be held harmless, and thus included them in the latest committee substitute. The two new license types and two new permit types would be added in to AS 04.11 to specifically include a performing arts theater license, a fair license, a concert permit and a music festival permit. SB 16 also clarifies that skiing and snowboarding activities are allowable under a recreational site license, which has been historically permissible until 2018. The legislation also expands the number of special events at a fraternal organization, grandfathers in certain operators as of December 31, 2018, and provides an incentive for operators that file and pay their taxes in a timely manner. Although there remains an effort to update the remainder of Alaska's Title 4 alcohol statutes, this specific bill is designed to protect the ability of our beloved Alaska State Fair and other traditionally licensed entities to operate as they have for many years. We believe that the public will be better served by specifically clarifying Title 4 under Senate Bill 16 to provide the ability for the ABC Board to license and manage these specific applications. We respectfully ask for Legislative and public support for passage of the bill. CO-CHAIR LEDOUX questioned whether the "save the fair" bill has morphed into a mini omnibus bill. MS. MORLEDGE answered yes, adding that the business that were included would have lost their license this year. CO-CHAIR LEDOUX suggested that could be remedied by the addition of the grandfather clause. MS. MORLEDGE acknowledged that they could have grandfathered in business that had valid license at the end of December 2018. She noted that it was appropriate to separate the state fair's license to make it specific to that business model and their operation. 4:56:29 PM CO-CHAIR WOOL sought clarification on the grandfather section of the bill. He asked if it would last for two years while fixing the problem. MS. MORLEDGE answered yes. She said they were trying to provide several different license types that would be in perpetuity, and for the ones that didn't fit into neat categories would get an additional two years. CO-CHAIR WOOL asked if the Palmer Fair was the only fair with this problem. MS. MORLEDGE said they were the only ones singled out with that business model, adding that the other fairs were operating under caterers' licenses. She said there was no way for them to be offered a license that would follow the interpretation of the statute. 5:00:14 PM CO-CHAIR WOOL asked why the State Fair can't operate like the others. MS. MORLEDGE replied that the AAMCO office was no longer comfortable issuing Alaska State Fair's license with multiple sites on their fair grounds under one recreational site or caterers' license. 5:02:17 PM MS. MORLEDGE in a follow-up question from Representative Stutes, acknowledged that these licenses are renewals not new ones with one caveat. She said that the addition of skiing and snowboarding activities to the recreational site license because it was recommended by the steering committee and stake holders to not create a new license specifically for that activity but to put it with the rest of the sporting activities. 5:02:58 PM CO-CHAIR LEDOUX questioned whether 24, 25, and 26 were brand new licenses. 5:03:24 PM MS. MORLEDGE explained that the new one is line 26, the music festival, while the other two were already in regulation and being moved into statute. REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked if there had been any music festival permits issued in the past. MS. MORLEDGE answered no. She said they were issued under catering permits or bending the rules. 5:04:27 PM CHAIR LEDOUX announced that SB 16 was held over.