Missouri curbside cocktail law spurs request for more liquor agents - Blue Springs Examiner
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri public safety officials are asking Gov. Mike Parson and the Legislature for more workers to help police a new law allowing restaurants to sell mixed drinks to go.
The request for four additional curbside cocktail cops is part of the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control's proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins next July.
"These additional agents are needed to ensure that this new provision is being performed in a safe and responsible manner for Missouri residents," the request notes.
The new law, approved by lawmakers this spring and signed by Parson this summer, extended a temporary change in state liquor laws put in place last year to help restaurants weather a significant slowdown in business due to the pandemic.
With restaurants doing much of their business as takeout, to-go drinks became an option at a range of establishments The effort to make the law permanent was pushed by the National Restaurant Association.
State liquor regulators also saw a sharp downturn in their work in the past year.
According to the budget documents, the ratio of alcohol-related violations to investigations decreased in in the year ending June 30 due to restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19. There were 664 violations or arrest reports in the 2020 fiscal year compared to 172 in 2021.
"Many licensed locations were closed for extended periods of time to protect the public from COVID-19. Also, ATC placed restrictions on our agents to limit their exposure to COVID-19," the request says.
In all, the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control issues licenses to 31,000 establishments each year, collecting over $53 million in revenue annually.
If approved, the $519,000 outlay would help reduce the current ratio of agent to licensee to one for every 855, down from one for every 1,100 establishments.
"We are requesting a minimal four agents (one per district office), to make our agent-to-licensee ratio more manageable and to better equip the division to enforce this new section and ensure that it is being performed properly," the request says.
Typically, to-go alcohol must be in its original package.
Under the new law, cocktails must be in "durable, leakproof, and sealable" containers and meet minimum-size requirements in the Code of State Regulations for alcoholic beverages in their original package.
The change calls for a container to be sealed with tamper-proof tape or placed in a transparent, tamper-proof and securely sealed bag. The container cannot exceed 128 ounces, and a customer can only buy two alcoholic beverages per meal.
The change was among a number of provisions included in a package of alcohol-related laws sponsored by Sen. Justin Brown, R- Rolla.
This legislation also extends the hours liquor can be sold on Sunday. Previously, Sunday liquor sales could only occur between 9 a.m. and midnight. The bill changes those hours to 6 a.m. through 1:30 a.m. Monday morning – the same hours that apply the rest of the week.
Missouri was not alone in altering liquor laws in response to the pandemic. Iowa, Ohio and the District of Columbia also made their to-go booze laws permanent.
source: https://www.examiner.net/story/news/2021/10/11/missouri-curbside-cocktail-law-spurs-request-more-liquor-agents/6098872001/
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