Bills meet differing fates
As the 2011 Montana Legislature pauses to catch its breath at the session’s midway point, all bills have been acted upon.
Following is a summary of action taken on the main bills relating to the state’s hospitality businesses:
Server Training
Senate Bill 29, which seeks mandatory server and sales training, has been passed from the Senate to the House.
It has been referred to the House Business and Labor Committee. At press time, no hearing date had been set.
Sponsored by Sen. Linda Moss, D-Billings, SB 29 passed out of the Senate's Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee on a 6-5 vote following its initial hearing Jan. 25. The Senate passed the bill 25-24 on its final reading Feb. 12.
The bill has drawn opposition from some legislators who generally oppose government mandates.
Thus far, the Montana Tavern Association, the Montana Restaurant Association, the Petroleum Marketers Association (convenience stores), and the Gaming Industry Association have supported the legislation. The organizations have said they believe the businesses they represent would be better off dealing with one reasonable state standard than a hodgepodge of local ordinances on the same issue.
The server-training proposal was unanimously approved by the Law and Justice Interim Committee last fall.
Main points of SB-29 are:
• All sellers and servers of alcohol must be trained within 60 days of hire and every three years thereafter;
• The proposal accepts all approved training programs, including the Department of Revenue program, TIPS, TAMS, SERV-SAFE, and even approved in-house programs;
• A licensee found, as a result of a routine check, to be out of compliance with the server training law will pay a fine;
• The law would go into effect Oct. 1.
Brewery Hours
The Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee Feb. 17 tabled Senate Bill 202, which proposed to extend by two hours – from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. – the time that Montana breweries are allowed to serve their beer.
The vote was 11 to 1 against the proposal.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish, drew much attention. The hearing room and outside hallway were packed with people waiting to testify.
Those opposed – including the Montana Tavern Association and several bar owners – said it would draw business away from establishments that have to acquire expensive alcohol licenses, and that often buy and serve beer from the breweries. Over two dozen people testified against the bill.
Those in favor – including brewery owners from across the state – said extending hours later in the evening, when people are more likely to stop in for a drink, gives them opportunities to expand their businesses and provide more jobs to Montanans.
Tony Herbert, executive director of the Montana Brewers Association, said the demand for craft beers continues to grow, and the brews are a draw for people visiting the area.
However, Mark Staples, Montana Tavern Association's government affairs counsel, said the bill would allow breweries to become bars without any license – a role the law clearly did not intend.
Staples cited existing law that prohibits “brewers and beer importers from engaging in the retail sale of beer.”
“That's been the law all along,” he said.
Despite that, he said, exceptions have been made that allowed several alterations to the law in years since, including allowing microbreweries to sell “samples” of their beer, increasing the numbers of those samples to three from one, and extending the “sampling” hours to 8 p.m.
“What is the difference between a beer bar and a microbrewery bar anymore?” he asked.
Robert Haffner, manager the R & R Lounge in Great Falls, said if he started competing with breweries for customers, one of his first decisions would be to stop buying microbrews to serve at his business. (In fact, Joe Domanski, owner of the Pour House and Spectators Bar and Grill in Bozeman, stopped pouring Montana-made beer to protest SB202).
Montana Restaurant Association also opposed the bill.
Gaming Enhancements
Senate Bill 361 to add video line games to the offerings in Montana's existing video gaming machines passed the Senate on a 38-11 vote and was transmitted to the House Feb. 24.
Sponsor Sen. Rick Ripley, R-Wolf Creek, said SB 361will simply provide small gaming businesses a new game in their existing machines.
“They will still be limited to a total of 20 machines in any one location,” he said.
The maximum allowable bet will still be $2, “so there's no increase,” he said, and the maximum allowable win is still $800, “so again no increase.”
This game will be a software addition to existing cabinets, he said.
In response to a question from the Senate floor, Sen. Ripley said, “I don't believe this is an expansion of gaming – I think it's an update.”
He likened the game to keno: “Video keno players select how many numbers they want to play; a video line game player selects how may lines they want to play.”
SB 361 means more jobs and revenue for Montana, he added.
Senators earlier approved several Ripley amendments, including ones to ensure that the new games will be placed only in the current multi-game cabinets (with poker and keno) and that new games are available to all operators.
The Senate floor action followed a hearing several days earlier, in Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee, which voted unanimously to pass Senate Bill 361 after hearing testimony from several tavern and casino representatives supporting the measure.
They said they hoped video-line visuals would help restore lost revenue caused by the statewide ban on smoking in bars and casinos, and the economic downturn.
"Line games are basically where you can line up across, vertical, horizontal (and) every other way" to win a game, said Sen. Ripley during the Feb. 18 hearing.
"It keeps up with your smart phones and your computers, and everything else that you can already download these games onto," Ripley said.
MTA's Staples said the legislation doesn't change anything but add a new game: "Same machines. Same bet limits. Same payout limits. One new added visual. That's all."
Peterson, of the GIA, said the new game would help attract some new customers and bring back some of the ones missing from casino and bars since the recession started and since the ban on indoor smoking at these establishments took effect Oct. 1, 2009.
Ronda Wiggers, speaking for the Montana Coin Machine Operators Association, said allowing video-line games would add "some entertainment value to these games" and allow "a little bit of innovation."
She told legislators that gaming revenues have plunged 20 to 30 percent statewide in recent years.
State figures show an $11 million drop in state video gambling tax collections between the 2008 and 2010 budget years. The 2010 figure amounted to $52.4 million, and gambling-game tax collections from July to December marked six-year lows statewide.
SB 361 “will help small taverns stay in business, keep people employed and keep us going," said Darrell Keck, owner of the Dixie Inn in Shelby.
Clint Lohman, owner of Rocky Mountain Gaming Inc. in Bozeman and Lohman Games in Glendive, said the legislation would help "revitalize our business."
Liability Laws
After it passed out of the House Judiciary Committee six days earlier, a measure that would have increased the liability of alcohol servers in alcohol-related auto crashes was soundly defeated on the House floor Feb. 23.
The MTA and others, including the insurance industry, opposed the bill, which was rejected 92-8 by the full House.
Montana, like most states, has a dram shop liability law that can hold the establishment responsible for selling alcohol to obviously intoxicated people who subsequently cause death or injury to third parties.
HB 50 would have eliminated the $250,000 limit for noneconomic damages and the $250,000 limit for punitive damages.
The bill also sought to extend to three years from two the time that a civil action against an alcohol server could be filed. The bill also would have eliminated the current requirement that a notice of intent to file a civil action must be sent via certified mail within 180 days from the date of sale or service.
For up-to-date information on all legislative bills, go to www.leg.mt.gov.