An ongoing revision of the state’s alcohol-licensing laws could have effects on Haines eating establishments.
Specifically, a working group formed by the Alaska Legislature is considering eliminating “public convenience licenses” a certificate that allows restaurants to serve wine and beer after proving public support by collecting signatures in a one-mile radius.
Another proposal supported in concept by the working group is to limit the amount of alcohol that can be served at all restaurants to one third of receipts. Under current statutes, food sales must exceed 50 percent of receipts.
In addition, the working group showed support for limiting retail sales at new distilleries and breweries and to allow existing manufacturers to obtain other types of licenses, such as restaurant and eating place licenses.
Two Haines restaurants – The Klondike and The Pilot Light – hold public convenience licenses, and owners of other restaurants have expressed interest in acquiring them. Talk of their elimination apparently helped trigger a jump in liquor license applications statewide last year.
The proposed changes are among dozens being considered by the 60-member working group that was formed after state Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, started into liquor licensing laws in 2014. Micciche said licensing was outdated and required simplification and fine-tuning to address a new industry landscape.
Besides changing regulations for manufacturers and adding “endorsements” as a tool for entities selling liquor, Micciche wanted to put more emphasis on public safety.
Micciche’s office did not return messages this week, but a Jan. 9 legislative memo on the changes shows working group support for converting public convenience licenses to a license for restaurants and eating places, and allowing some municipalities to seek a change in the number of eating place licenses issued by the state for that community.
Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle said in an interview this week that draft wording recently was changed to allow holders of public convenience licenses to be “grandfathered.” A draft bill is due out Friday, Cottle said.
Cottle said municipalities aren’t represented on the working group. He said the bill is too restrictive. Cottle wants first-class municipalities and home-rule boroughs – which have powers over land use and policing – to also have power over setting their own liquor regulations.
That was farther than the working group would go, but the working group’s latest wording allows boroughs with a population of more than 50,000 to qualify for additional licenses, Cottle said.
Cottle said the hospitality industry is important to small communities, and to municipal coffers. “One of the reasons we incorporated is so we could control our own destiny,” he said.
Steve Anderson, owner of The Klondike, said being able to serve alcohol is critical for a business like his pizzeria. “You’ve got to have it. When people come in and sit down and want something to eat, they want a beer. When I didn’t have it, people would say, ‘What?’”
Collecting signatures to acquire his convenience license was “a pain in the butt, big time,” Anderson said, and the license isn’t a “big money-maker,” he said. “I’m not a hundred-seat restaurant.”
Selling alcohol also can be a double-edge sword, he said. “There are a lot of people who won’t go out to eat at a place that serves alcohol,” including some of his customers, who only buy his pizza take-out. “They don’t want to be sitting down where other people are drinking.”
Anderson and brewery owner Paul Wheeler each expressed apprehension to changes in state liquor laws. “There’s always some money deal involved when something’s going on like that,” Anderson said. Said Wheeler: “I’m happy with the law the way it is. I built my business around it… I don’t know what will end up getting passed. There’s a lot of stuff being thrown around.”
The Alaska Legislature approved some changes to liquor laws last year, including lowering the penalties for minor consuming and reorganizing the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
The five-member ABC board was previously comprised of two industry and three public seats. Under its new composition, there are two industry seats, one designated for public safety, one for the public and a public seat reserved for a rural resident.
Also, minors caught consuming will be fined $500 – which can be reduced to $50 with six months of education. Minors previously were charged with a class A misdemeanor.