Cleanup Alcohol Beverage Retail Sales

In the 2016 legislative session, the general assembly enacted Senate Bill 16-197, which changed the system for licensing establishments that are authorized to sell alcohol beverages in sealed containers to customers for consumption off the licensed premises, referred to as the 'retail sale' or 'sale at retail' of alcohol beverages. Some of the changes made by the 2016 legislation include:

• Authorizing persons licensed to sell at retail on or before January 1, 2016, to obtain multiple retail licenses, subject to a tiered schedule, to restrictions based on proximity to another retail licensed premises, and to other requirements and limitations;
• Allowing retail liquor stores to sell a broad array of nonalcohol products, subject to a 20% limit on gross sales revenue from the sale of nonalcohol products;
• Requiring retail licensees to check the identification of consumers purchasing alcohol beverages to verify that they are at least 21 years of age;
• Prohibiting employees of certain alcohol beverage licensees who are under 21 years of age from selling malt, vinous, or spirituous liquors; and
• Changing the hours during which fermented malt beverages may be sold from between 5 a.m. and 12 midnight to between 8 a.m. and 12 midnight.

The bill modifies portions of the 2016 legislation as follows:

• Modifies the definition of a liquor-licensed drugstore to specify that the licensee need not be a drugstore but must have a licensed drugstore within its premises ( section 1 );
• Excludes revenues from the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, nicotine products, and lottery products from the calculation of the cap on a retail liquor store's gross revenues from the sale of nonalcohol products ( sections 1 and 3 );
• Imposes the proximity restrictions on a retail liquor store that is seeking permission to relocate its premises to ensure the new location is not within 1,500 feet of another business licensed to sell at retail, or, if in a small town, within 3,000 feet of another business with a retail sales license ( section 2 );
• Allows a liquor-licensed drugstore that applied for a new liquor-licensed drugstore license before October 1, 2016, to obtain multiple retail licenses, subject to the schedule established in the 2016 legislation ( section 4 );
• Allows a corporation member of a controlled group of corporations that owns or has an interest in a liquor-licensed drugstore to obtain interests in additional liquor-licensed drugstores in the same manner as any other member of the controlled group, but the entire group is subject to the limits on the total number of multiple licenses allowed under current law; ( section 4 )
• Restores the hours for permitted sales of fermented malt beverages to between 5 a.m. and 12 midnight ( section 5 );
• Clarifies that employees of a licensed tavern or lodging and entertainment facility that regularly serves meals, which employees are under 21 years of age, are not prohibited from selling alcohol beverages ( section 5 );
• Repeals the requirement that retail sales licensees check customers' identification to verify their age ( sections 4 and 5 ); and
• Exempts liquor-licensed drugstores from the prohibition against having an automated teller machine on the premises from which individuals enrolled in public assistance programs administered by the department of human services may obtain cash benefits through the electronic benefits transfer service ( section 6 ).
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)