Server-training bill set for Legislature
By Paul Tash
Montana Tavern Times
A server-training bill that would require mandatory training, but allow the private sector to continue operating the educational programs without state management, headlines a list of tavern-related proposals heading for the 2011 Legislature.
The server-training proposal was unanimously approved by the Law and Justice Interim Committee last fall and is endorsed by the Montana Tavern Association (MTA).
Some of the initial requirements, primarily a plan to have the Department of Revenue oversee and approve the training, was stripped from the bill draft. Another change to the initial bill removed a “training-certification fee” to be paid to the Department to cover administration costs.
Sen. Carol Juneau, who sponsored the original draft, said at a Law and Justice Interim Committee in September that the altered bill, while not exactly what she wanted, would nevertheless “set good policy for the state and be a good prevention tool.”
The MTA has consistently supported the concept of server training, said Mark Staples, MTA's government affairs counsel.
However, he said, with another state deficit looming, the proposal in its initial form would have had difficulty passing the Legislature because of the expense involved. The original draft proposal estimated an initial cost of $250,000 and ongoing annual costs of $200,000.
Staples emphasized that because the training programs in existence now – whether county, state or private – are all certified, the amended bill draft would still be effective.
“We certainly will continue to work with the Legislature to develop an effective and efficient program to ease the DUI problem,” he said. “We didn't want an expensive program that wouldn’t work.”
The approved bill draft mandates that all sellers and servers of alcohol be trained within 60-90 days of hire and every five years thereafter (though that could change to three years). In addition, each licensee must maintain employment records verifying employee completion of the training.
The proposal accepts all approved training programs, including the Department of Revenue program, TIPS, TAMS, SERV-SAFE, and even approved in-house programs.
Also, the licensee must post signs on the premises informing customers of the licensee's policy against selling or serving alcoholic beverages to any person less than 21 years of age and to any person who is intoxicated.
A $50 fine would be levied for each employee who either did not successfully complete the required training or whose training certificate in not current during a routine compliance check.
Another bill asks state lawmakers to “shift” taproom hours for microbreweries to serve until 10 p.m. instead of their current statutory 8 p.m.
In exchange for the shift, the tap rooms would give up their early a.m. retail sales.
"It gives brewers a better schedule to operate under," Tony Herbert, executive director of the Brewers Association, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle recently. "We expect we can be a little more profitable by being able to stay open later."
Montana has 27 microbreweries.
The MTA has not taken an official position on the bill, which has not yet been introduced. But its clear that licensees statewide who have paid tremendous sums for the right to engage in on-premise retail sales feel it would be unfair to further expand retail on-premise sales in breweries unless and until the brewers make the same kind of investment in the retail privilege that bars and taverns have had to make.
Many feel that “tap room” operations are already an overreach for what were supposed to be “sample” rooms to induce wholesale purchases from licensed operators.
When paid sampling was allowed by the last Legislature, the microbreweries testified that they had no intention to ever become bars or taverns. They said they did not want to compete with the very businesses who were popularizing and selling their products.
Many tavern owners feel that agreement has already been breached by the proliferation of tap rooms, and are exasperated by the prospect of increased retail operations in what was supposed to be manufacturing facilities, particularly without the same cost of entry into retail sales that licensed retailers have had to make.
In addition to those bills, the Gaming Advisory Council has approved a small list of proposals to work for in the 2011 Legislature through the Gambling Control Division.
The legislative proposals will be drafted into a bill to be carried by Rep. Pat Noonan from Butte, who is on the Gaming Advisory Council.
The legislative proposals include:
• Increasing the single card Bingo price to $1, from .50 cents;
• Impose session limits for bingo players
• Increasing the maximum payout in Bingo to $800;
• Initiate a “stale-date” for winners to cash their video gaming machine tickets. The measure does not call for a specific term, but simply says “reasonable time.” The proposal currently sets that limit at 48 hours, though that could change.