Oklahoma: As modernization approaches, lawmakers finalize alcohol regulations

Source: http://newsok.com/

Dale Denwalt

May 5, 2018

Last-minute legislation prevented the need for a special session to deal with Oklahoma’s new alcohol modernization laws, the bill’s author said.

House Floor Leader Jon Echols said Senate Bill 1173, which passed both chambers Thursday just hours before lawmakers adjourned for the year, is the bare minimum of law needed before the voter-enacted changes go into effect.

On Oct. 1, Oklahoma grocery stores can sell wine and higher-strength beer, and liquor stores can install refrigerators to sell cold beer for the first time. The state question that approved those policies left some regulatory gaps, however.

“I think we can survive until next session,” said Echols, R-Oklahoma City.

Perhaps the most significant part of the bill approved by lawmakers will send more money to the Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement (ABLE) Commission. Five dollars of every new employee license fee will be earmarked for the commission.

“That is going to prove extremely valuable because what we’re going to need is manpower to get this done,” said ABLE Commission’s chief attorney, Steven Barker.

Barker said there’s no estimate of how much new money the agency will receive, but Echols said he thinks the ABLE Commission will have what it needs to expand enforcement into these new areas.

“When the citizens voted for alcohol modernization, you need that solid regulatory structure to make sure alcohol doesn’t end up in the hands of minors,” Echols said. “I think we have given it the resources it needs.”

Other changes approved by lawmakers but still awaiting Gov. Mary Fallin’s signature are more complicated.

One allows wholesalers to offer products to retail stores at an individually marked up rate a month early, rather than a rate that’s set across all of their wholesale products. Without that provision, retailers might have delayed buying products by a month.

Barker said he’s spent a lot of time talking to tribal governments in Oklahoma that were concerned about the impending modernization law and whether it would prohibit both packaged alcohol and mixed drinks to be sold by the same licenseholder.

Senate Bill 1173 grants retailers the right to hold both kinds of licenses, as long as the two operations are not in the same or adjacent space.

The Legislature might still have to meet in special session before a new crop of lawmakers joins returning members for the 2019 session.

On June 26, Oklahomans will decide whether to approve medical marijuana, and state leaders aren’t sure whether the Oklahoma Department of Health will be ready to regulate the industry.

Echols said lawmakers are still talking about how they would approach their own set of regulations if State Question 788 passes. There were several failed attempts at regulation during the legislative session, including a bill that would have created an independent Cannabis Commission to create regulations. If agency rules by the Board of Health are finished in time, however, a special session might not be necessary.

“Everyone agreed that it would be good to create a Cannabis Commission,” he said, adding that he wanted the Legislature to be more proactive while lawmakers were still at the Capitol.

Whatever happens, however, Echols said any regulations would keep the spirit of the law intact. Lawmakers wouldn’t go back into special session to sink the fledgling industry. What they might consider, he said, is “how do we guarantee safe and fair access?”

“The will of the people will control it,” he said.