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Thursday, June 17, 2021 www.nabca.org • PA: PLCB: Expanded outdoor alcohol service must end • AR: Alcoholic Beverage Control approves permit for Costco liquor store TODAY’S • Scotland: Scottish alcohol sales drop to lowest level in 26 years • Alcohol maker Two Trees formed to tap into rapid-aging technology HIGHLIGHTS • Alcohol and awkwardness • How Stiff Are Distilled Spirits Taxes in Your State? CONTROL STATE NEWS NABCA NEWS PA: PLCB: Expanded outdoor alcohol service The Collection: An Alcohol Research Summary must end (formerly Annotated Bibliography) A comprehensive Restaurants that started serving alcohol outside during overview of the latest scientific evidence on the pandemic are no longer allowed to do so, according important topics related to alcohol policy. to the state. Sharing Solutions E-Newsletter! A platform for the WNEP NABCA community to share successful Author: Elizabeth Worthington Implementations and lessons learned about your June 16, 2021 good work. DICKSON CITY, Pa. — The tables set up outside of ADDITIONAL LINKS Smiler's Bar & Grill in Dickson City are all roped off. Within the last 24 hours, manager June Greene Visit NABCA’s website for information on: found out she's no longer allowed to serve alcohol • Control State Agency Information on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. • Doing Business in Control States "Last minute as always!" Greene laughed. "I'm • NABCA News bummed. I don't know if we'll be able to keep the patio. We can't sell any more drinks to go." The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board says now that Governor Wolf's emergency declaration has expired, so too have the temporary extensions granted for businesses to serve alcohol on sidewalks and in parking lots, a lifeline for many places during the pandemic. "If all of your seats were full, you only had 30 to 40 people in here, which does not generate a lot of money. It costs a thousand dollars to open the door every day here," said Greene. Greene says the customers loved sitting outside. She'll look into applying for a permanent license but has been told in the past, she doesn't have enough parking. 2 But at places that don't serve alcohol, such as The bill cleared the House Finance Committee on Downtown Deli in Scranton, the hope is that outdoor Tuesday without any opposition. At an earlier dining on the sidewalk is here to stay." committee meeting on the bill, the Rev. Mark Creech of the conservative Christian Action League "It's a beautiful day, beautiful weather, when it's said he’s opposed to allowing a “bar on wheels.” raining even sometimes still people want to chill under the umbrellas," said Stas Postowski, a server Creech said the idea is different than the alcohol at Downtown Deli. currently allowed on trains and planes because train and air travel is limited. With buses though, Sidewalk dining is not new at Downtown Deli, but it there’s potential for “incalculable fleets of them, was for a lot of businesses in Scranton last summer. each possessing a bar for its passengers,” he said. The city passed an ordinance allowing businesses to use the sidewalks for outdoor dining. MORE NC ALCOHOL BILLS MOVING AHEAD A spokesperson from the mayor's office says the city HB 693 was one of several alcohol- and event- is drafting a resolution to present to the city council, related bills on the Finance Committee’s agenda on which would extend it until the end of the year. Tuesday. House Bill 477 would allow event promoters to use vacant buildings on a trial basis As for statewide outdoor dining, there's a bill without upgrading the spaces for building code and floating around to extend it, along with making zoning purposes. cocktails to go permanent, but that bill is currently stalled in the state House. Rep. Mark Brody, R-Union and sponsor of the bill, said the idea is to hold a small number of events to see if there’s demand and interest in the space NC: Full bar on your next long-distance bus trip? before paying for renovations. Promoters would NC House looks to legalize it still need a safety inspection of the building first. The News & Observer HB 477 passed the full House on Wednesday in a By Colin Campbell 104-1 vote. June 16, 2021 House Bill 619, which was on Tuesday’s agenda for Travelers heading across the state by bus could soon discussion only, addresses a tax code problem for buy cocktails, wine and beer along the way. breweries that expand into restaurant service. Breweries typically pay the mill machinery tax for House Bill 693 would legalize a new trend in other the equipment they use to make beer, but if they states where bus companies have added a bar to the later add food service that accounts for more than chartered bus experience. The bill passed the House half of their revenue, they’re taxed like a on Wednesday in an 89-14 vote. restaurant. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tim Moffitt, a Henderson That means higher taxes on equipment purchases. County Republican, said the services cater to “first Alex Miller, a lobbyist for the N.C. Craft Brewers class and business class” travelers, and he expects Guild, described a brewery in Boone that got hit the routes would include Charlotte to Raleigh and with a hefty bill for back taxes on brewing Raleigh to Wilmington. equipment after its pizza proved so popular that it But Moffitt stressed that his bill wouldn’t add bars to exceeded beer revenue. the types of buses that ferry party people between “We find that situation to be fairly ridiculous,” he bars. said. Now, according to Miller, other breweries are “There has been some concern about this leading to hesitant to add food service for fear of the tax party buses, and other types of unsavory things — consequences. HB 619 would put brewery that is not the purpose of the bill,” he said. The equipment under the machinery tax regardless of alcohol permits would be valid only on bus trips of at how the business is structured. least 75 miles, when the destination is at least 10 miles from the starting point. 3 NH: Traffic complaints, alcohol issues on the rise According to officials, the added patrols in in some Granite State communities Portsmouth are planned to continue into Some police departments increasing patrols September. WMUR By Jennifer Crompton, News Report LICENSE STATE NEWS June 16, 2021 CT: Self-pour alcohol machines made legal in PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Some police departments in Connecticut New Hampshire have reported a jump in alcohol- and traffic-related issues, from speeding to crashes WTNH and even serious injury. That increase is not just by WTNH Staff compared to this time last year. June 16, 2021 Communities such as Portsmouth have seen an HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Governor Ned increase in traffic issues, including DWIs and crashes. Lamont gives the green light to people to pour The Portsmouth Police Department anticipated their own drinks. The governor signed a bill today being busy as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, with allowing self-pour alcohol machines. 200 licensed drinking establishments in the city. Here’s how it works: A beer ambassador will still “We’re seeing a lot of increased calls for service check for IDs, then the customer will get a pour relative to alcohol-related issues,” said Capt. pass and the pass gets turned off after all of their Michael Maloney. “Whether it be fights or allotted ounces are poured. intoxicated people, and then, obviously, we’re Self-pour machines are already legal in 45 other seeing, unfortunately, an increase in alcohol-related states. crashes as well.” Some of those crashes have led to serious injuries, IL: Buzz Continues on Alcohol Bans at Grocery and Portsmouth is not alone. Stores “I think every community in this area is getting Chicago mayor announces midnight purchase curfew, complaints of speeding vehicles, following too close, other states weigh sales of adult beverages to go going through stop signs, parking wherever they Progressive Grocer want,” Rye Police Chief Kevin Walsh said. By Lynn Petrak Walsh said it is not just visitors, it's locals too. He said June 16, 2021 pandemic fatigue could be partly to blame. The pandemic and other events of the past year “They’re getting out, and they’re getting frustrated. have caused fresh debate over alcohol sales at They have short fuses. They’re not patient about grocery stores. anything,” Walsh said. Since Prohibition ended in 1933, it has generally Officials said education and enforcement is key. been up to state and local authorities to regulate With the help of grant funds from the New the sale of alcohol, including in grocery stores. This Hampshire Office of Highway Safety, which partners week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot created with departments across the state, Portsmouth is headlines when she proposed a ban on packaged implementing a patrol every week dedicated to the alcohol sales at the city’s grocery and convenience issues. stores after midnight. “You’ll see the difference where you’ll see the The proposal, yet to be voted on by the City officers are out there every day, and their goal is Council, extends the temporary late night/early aggressive traffic enforcement targeting those morning halt in adult beverage sales that was specific-type aggressive behaviors, distracted imposed during the pandemic. The initial driving, alcohol-related offenses,” Murphy said. pandemic-era curfew was 9 p.m., later changed to 11 p.m. 4 When Lightfoot first floated the idea last month of The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board today making the curfew permanent, the suggested 10 approved a retail liquor permit for the Costco store p.m.