Fiscal Note & Local Impact Statement

127 ^th General Assembly of Ohio

Ohio Legislative Service Commission

77 South High Street, 9^th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215-6136 ² Phone: (614) 466-3615

² Internet Web Site: http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/

BILL:	S.B. 150		DATE:	October 10, 2007
STATUS:	As Passed by the Senate		SPONSOR:	Sen. Roberts
LOCAL IMPACT STATEMENT REQUIRED:		No —	No local cost

CONTENTS:

Authorizes liquor permit holders to accept military identification cards that contain a picture and age data as proof of the purchaser's age and makes related changes

State Fiscal Highlights

STATE FUND	FY 2008	FY 2009			FUTURE YEARS
Liquor Control Fund (Fund 043) – Department of Commerce
Revenues	- 0 -		- 0 -	- 0 -
Expenditures	One-time increase of $9,000 to $10,000 for postage		- 0 -	- 0 -

Note: The state fiscal year is July 1 through June 30. For example, FY 2008 is July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008.

· The bill requires the Division of Liquor Control in the Department of Commerce to provide retail liquor permit holders with a notice of the permissible forms of identification when checking the age of the person buying alcohol. The Division noted that it would send out a mailing to retail permit holders containing the notice. One-time postage costs for these mailings would be approximately $9,000 to $10,000 in FY 2008.

Local Fiscal Highlights

· No direct fiscal effect on political subdivisions.

Detailed Fiscal Analysis

Military identification cards – acceptable identification

Under current law, a liquor permit holder, agent, or employee of a permit holder cannot be found guilty of a violation of the Liquor Control Law or any rule of the Liquor Control Commission in which age is an element of the offense if certain conditions are met. One of those conditions is that the person buying alcohol exhibited to the permit holder a driver's license or an identification card issued under the Driver's License Law showing that the person buying alcohol was of the age required to purchase beer, intoxicating liquor, or low-alcohol beverages.

This bill authorizes a liquor permit holder to accept a military identification card that contains a picture and age data as proof of a purchaser's age in addition to a driver's license or other appropriate identification card. This provision appears to have no direct fiscal effect on the state or local governments.

Notice to permit holders

The bill also requires the Division of Liquor Control in the Department of Commerce to provide, not later than 90 days after the bill's effective date, retail liquor permit holders with a notice of the permissible forms of identification when checking the age of the person buying alcohol. The Division of Liquor Control currently licenses over 24,000 privately owned and operated manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of alcoholic beverages. Retail permit holders hold the vast majority of the liquor permits the Division issues.

The Division noted that it would send out a mailing to retail permit holders containing the notice in addition to posting the notice at its web site. It is likely that these mailings would not qualify for bulk postage rates since bulk rates require a minimum number of presorted pieces per zip code (500 pieces for first-class mail) and permit quotas limit the number of liquor permit holders in any given municipality or township to one per 1,000 or 2,000 people, depending on permit type. Therefore, it appears that one-time postage costs for these mailings, at 41 cents per piece, would be approximately $9,000 to $10,000 in FY 2008.

LSC fiscal staff: Jason Phillips, Budget Analyst

SB0150SP/lb