Friday, May 28, 2021 www.nabca.org • PA: State legislature discussing reforms of the Liquor Management Commission • IL: 10 p.m. liquor sales cutoff ‘not written in stone,’ top mayoral aide says TODAY’S • Australia: ABA highlights cultural change in alcohol consumption • America's Ambivalence About Youth and Alcohol HIGHLIGHTS • Heineken deploys mobile ads on Waze to discourage drunken driving • Case After Case — Lager Beer’s Time in Court in the 1850s CONTROL STATE NEWS NABCA NEWS PA: State legislature discussing reforms of the The Collection: An Alcohol Research Summary Liquor Management Commission (formerly Annotated Bibliography) A comprehensive overview of the latest scientific evidence on Pennsylvania News Today important topics related to alcohol policy. By Chriss Pink May 27, 2021 Sharing Solutions E-Newsletter! A platform for the NABCA community to share successful Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-State Congressman implementationS and lessons learned about your Frank Burns has introduced a bill package to good work. expand membership in the Liquor Management Commission. Reduce the governor’s impact on the ADDITIONAL LINKS appointment of LCBs. Reduce payments for LCB members by 40%. Visit NABCA’s website for information on: The House Democratic National Committee • Control State Agency Information described the package as the “first salvo” of the • Doing Business in Control States reform proposal, suggesting that more would • NABCA News continue. Congressman Burns’ bill will extend LCB membership from three to five, with one each for the Governor, the Democratic Party of the House, the Republican House of Representatives, the Democratic Senate, and the Republican Senate. Currently, the governor has appointed all three directors. The 40% reduction is based on splitting the current budget into five directors. Regular member salaries will drop from $ 78,751 to $ 47,500, and presidential salaries will drop from $ 81,890 to $ 49,500. “I believe that the legislators of both houses should have a say on who oversees the sale and license of alcohol in Pennsylvania,” Burns said. 2 “Institutions of this size will benefit from a wide At an unrelated news conference Thursday, range of board members who provide oversight Lightfoot said she, too, is willing to “work with” and guidance.” liquor and convenience store owners “to see where we can reach an accommodation.” Burns goes on to say: “The Pennsylvania Liquor Management Commission is a vast and powerful But she added: “They’ve got to … be better actors body responsible for running hundreds of wine and in these communities. Nobody should suffer spirits retail stores, licensing thousands of venues, because of liquor sales that stretch into the early and conducting alcohol education and training. morning hours that then become a real magnet Given that, I believe that the decision-maker should for problems in neighborhoods.” come from a different path than the three board of Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) agrees their directors nominated by the governor and should be some flexibility. confirmed by the state legislature. “ “My preference would be to use our Burns Invoice- HB 1149 And HB 1150 -It works by administrative tools to crack down on bad actors amending the state liquor law and civil service and hopefully, perhaps, negotiate on the closure compensation law. hour,” Reilly said. LICENSE STATE NEWS Rob Karr, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said he hopes to land at IL: 10 p.m. liquor sales cutoff ‘not written in “something far closer to their original licensure,” stone,’ top mayoral aide says which is a 2 a.m. closing time. The proposal to permanently cut off liquor sales in “We engaged in an agreed rollback [to 9 p.m.] at retail stores at 10 p.m. has emerged as the most their request, allegedly to help with COVID. controversial element of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s There’s no data that we’ve seen yet to justify why sweeping pandemic relief package, which was we need to move it” permanently to 10 p.m., Karr unveiled Wednesday. said. Chicago Sun Times By Fran Spielman The 10 p.m. cutoff has emerged as the most May 27, 2021 controversial element of the mayor’s sweeping Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to require liquor, pandemic relief package. grocery and convenience stores to cut off liquor Escareno initially told the Sun-Times on Thursday sales at 10 p.m. is “not written in stone,” a top that sales of cocktails-to-go by restaurants and mayoral aide said Thursday, opening the door to bars also would end at 10 p.m. pushing back the deadline or eliminating it entirely. “There’s a Frank Sinatra song about Chicago — “The hours that are in this package — that is an that toddling town Billy Sunday can’t shut down. introduction. … This is a starting point. … This is not That is the character of our city. We are not a closed door. This is not a done deal,” Business Wheaton,” said Pat Doerr, managing director of Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner the Hospitality Business Association of Chicago. Rosa Escareno told the Sun-Times. He urged Lightfoot to steer clear of “sweeping, “I’m not gonna predict where we land. But it’s industry-wide measures” that change “the definitely gonna be a dialogue and a conversation. character of our city known world-wide.” Crack … I want to hear the businesses. I embrace what down on “problem individual licensees” instead, they’re telling me. he said. …But we have to make the issues that our residents Within an hour of the interview, however, the are bringing us … central to this conversation.” Sun-Times got a “clarifying email” from Isaac Reichman, spokesman for Escareno’s department: “The 10 p.m. cutoff would not apply to cocktails- 3 to-go, since they are not sold from package good asked to produce the contract. They also run the stores.” risk of being fined. Yet another political flashpoint is the mayor’s plan “We need the domestic workers to feel valued to shave up to two months off the 150-day wait for and to be protected. They are among the most business permits, signs and awnings. No longer vulnerable employees,” Escareno said. would a separate ordinance be required for each “We want to make sure that there is a very simple public way permit. contract where you say you’re getting the That tramples on aldermanic turf. But, Escareno minimum wage and these are the conditions of said, “This is not about aldermanic prerogative. This work.” is about expediting the way we issue permits. It is unreasonable for a small business that wants a sign INTERNATIONAL NEWS or an awning to take 120 days and maybe even longer. … Businesses can’t put up that sign. Can’t Australia: ABA highlights cultural change in tell people that they’re open. Can’t advertise their alcohol consumption business practices because they’re waiting for an Food Processing ordinance to clear.” May 28, 2021 Escareno noted that during the pandemic, Australia’s alcohol industry body has called for the aldermen agreed to expedite the process for government to consider the latest insights on sidewalk café permits. alcohol consumption when it outlines the “They said, ‘We want to review the permit. But National Preventive Health Strategy. once we review it ... go and issue’” the permit, In a submission to the government, Alcohol Escareno said. Beverages Australia (ABA) has highlighted “That’s exactly what we’re asking for in this Australia’s maturing relationship with the use and ordinance. We have a proven pilot we can point to consumption of alcohol, where drinking in where the aldermen know we worked with them. … moderation is the new norm. The process that we just had over the past year has ABA CEO Andrew Wilsmore said it is time the worked.” government gave Australians “a pat on the back” Yet another point of contention is almost certain to for leading such a significant cultural change. emerge: the proposal requiring anyone in Chicago “The job isn’t completed just yet, but the key hiring a “domestic worker” to enter into a written drivers of these improvements must feature in contract to pay them a minimum of $15-an-hour. any forward-looking preventative health That applies even if somebody whether someone strategy,” he said. cleans your house once a week or twice a month. “The vast majority of Australians are now Escareno said she plans to mitigate that potential choosing to drink at low-risk levels, including a bureaucratic nightmare by posting a short-and- 50% increase in the number of underage sweet one-page contract on her department Australians abstaining from alcohol over the past website that homeowners can download. 14 years and an 18% decrease in the number of Australians drinking at lifetime risky levels.” “This is not gonna be a 20-page contract, a 10-page contract, a five-page contract. This is a simple Announced in 2019, the National Preventive document,” she said. Health Strategy aims to improve the health of Australians through early intervention, better City inspectors won’t knock on every door. But if information, and targeting risk factors and the housekeepers complain about a boss who isn’t broader causes of health and wellbeing. Part of paying at least $15-an-hour, their employer will be this strategy is to reduce the harmful 4 consumption of alcohol and its negative impact on India Today society. India Today Web Desk New Delhi The initiative, which is currently being drafted, is May 28, 2021 part of a larger 10-year framework that will tackle obesity, chronic conditions and tobacco use. The domestic liquor industry managed to see a strong sales revival in the second half of FY21, Wilsmore said many people don’t realise that per- helping limit the overall sales decline during the capita consumption of alcohol is at its lowest level last financial year to just 12 per cent, show data in 50 years due to Australian’s adjusting the way compiled by industry body Confederation of they drink — choosing to drink less, but often Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC).