Liquor bills on tap for '07 Legislature
Pub Date: 1/1/2007
It appears plenty of bills affecting licensed businesses have been put into the legislative hopper, though only a few actual bill drafts were ready at press time.
Some deal with alcohol and gaming taxes, others with the licensing system, underage drinking, and driving under the influence.
Some 76 bills of interest had been flagged by the Montana Tavern Association at mid-December. While many apparently will deal with alcohol-specific issues, others are of more general interest to small business owners such as tax reform measures, calls for local option taxes and insurance issues.
Tracking bills using the internet has made the task pretty simple. Go to and you will find a page that allows you to enter a specific bill number, then find the bill's status or look at a draft or the actual bill. This page will also tell you who is the primary sponsor.
At the bottom of this page is another option to search for bills by subject matter or by sponsor. For example, if you click on "clicking here and choosing a subject," a window will open that will display almost 200 subjects. If you click on "alcohol and drugs" (which is an unfortunate grouping), the original search screen will reappear with that phrase already typed in, so just click on "find" and "send" and you will have a list of almost 50 introduced and unintroduced bills related to this subject.
If you click on the "bill draft number" you will go to a page that lists the bill status and sponsor. If a bill or bill draft exists, you can access it by clicking on the lit HTML (text) or PDF (graphic) options just to the right of "current bill draft text."
Readers are encouraged to check the legislative web site or contact their business association executive offices frequently to stay abreast of bills, and to contact members of the legislature when advisable after consulting with association political affairs directors.
When asked about the bill line-up, Montana Tavern Association Government Affairs Counsel Mark Staples said, "It speaks for itself. we'll have our hands full. We need all MTA members state-wide to be at the ready when called upon to help.
At this mid-December writing, there were bills drafts available to view for:
LC0028 - Sen. Jim Shockley, (R) Victor, calls for the impoundment of the license plates of a person convicted of second-offense DUI. The bill would allow previously impounded vehicles to be licensed and used if a special five-year plate bearing the letters "DUI" and numerals is procured and displayed.
LC0356 - State Tribal Relations Committee, calls for giving Montana tribes total jurisdiction over all gambling on their reservations including who gets licensed, what tax rates would be, what games would be allowed, how many devices could be employed, where and when gaming could occur, what games could be offered and what wagers or prize limits might be, if any.
LC0396 - Law and Justice interim Committee, would make minor revisions to bingo card formats.
LC0397 - Requested by the Law and Justice interim Committee, sponsored by Rep. Sue Dickinson, (D) Great Falls, calls for the state to fund, and the Department of Justice to administer, a responsible gambling awareness campaign.
LC0728 - Mike Phillips, (D) Bozeman, would raise beer taxes about 3 percent to pay for a fetal alcohol syndrome treatment and prevention program.
Some other bills of interest to licensees that are in the drafting process but for which no draft is yet available, and which have "place holders" and "short titles" are:
LC0045 - Sen. Carol Williams, (D) Missoula, would authorize direct distribution of wine.
LC0067 - Sen. Dan Weinberg, (D) Whitefish, would revise beer and wine licensing laws.
LC0398 - Law and Justice interim Committee, would remove appropriation of bond proceeds to Gambling Control Division.
LC0634 - Sen. Kim Gillan, (D) Billings, would allow sports fantasy leagues for the benefit of horse racing.
Bills with "placeholders" whose drafts have been put on hold include:
LC0098 - Sen. Greg Lind, (D) Missoula, would revise liquor license statutes.
LC0099 - Sen. Greg Lind, (D) Missoula, would revise liquor license allocation laws.
LC0349 - Don Ryan, (D) Great Falls, calls for an entrepreneur specialty beverage license.
LC0515 - Revenue and Transportation interim Committee, would revise out-of-state winery access to Montana retailers.
LC0516 - Revenue and Transportation interim Committee, would revise residency requirements for liquor licensees.
LC0517 - Revenue and Transportation interim Committee, would clarify that all courts, including justice and city courts, could exercise jurisdiction for sales of alcohol to minors infractions.
LC0878 - Rep. Mary Caferro, (D) Helena, would tax gaming route operators and, hence, location operators and players to fund health care.
LC1363 - Rep. Dave Gallick, (D) Helena, would revise gambling laws.
Bills that have had draft requests but for which there is not a yet a draft in process include:
LC0564 - Jesse Laslovich, (D) Anaconda), which would revise minor in possession laws.
LC0565 - Jesse Laslovich, (D) Anaconda), which would revise driving under the influence laws.
LC0629 - John Brueggeman, (R) Polson, which would revise the beer tax.
LC1644 - Rep. Ernie Dutton, (R) Billings, would restrict gambling rights for beer and wine licenses.
LC1646 - Rep. Ernie Dutton, (R) Billings, would split the gambling license from existing beer and wine licenses.
LC1703 - Rep. Tom McGillvray, (R) Billings, would revise internet sales of alcohol.
LC1780 - Rep. Carol Lambert, (R) Broadus, would impose a new fee for DUI conviction.
LC1868 - Bill Thomas, (D) Great Falls, would revise the Montana card game act.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Jan., 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.