House Liquor Control Committee shortens catering notice for end-of-life memorials, widens special-occasion eligibility

The House Liquor Control Committee adopted House Bill 467, which reduces the required advance notice for off-premise catering at end-of-life memorial events from seven days to 24 hours and, by amendment, adds 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) organizations to the list of entities eligible for a special-occasion permit.

Lynn, a committee staff member, explained the bill: "House bill 467, would allow a restaurant, hotel, eatery, or brewery who has obtained an off premise catering permit to be exempt from the 7 day notice requirement for a function if that function is part of an end of life memorial event. An end of life memorial event is defined as a gathering of people where guests honor a person who died within the previous 7 days. The notice would now be 24 hours instead of 7 days."

Committee members said the bill was introduced after hearing that licensed beverage businesses faced difficulties when families planned memorials on short notice. The committee adopted amendment 0059, sponsored by Representative Major, which "would expand the entities eligible to obtain a special occasion permit to include all 5 0 1 c 3 and 5 0 1 c 6 organizations to the list of eligible entities," as explained by Lynn.

The amendment to add 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) organizations was moved by Tom Mahaffey and seconded by Rigby and was adopted with no negative votes recorded. A motion to report the bill as amended was moved by Rigby and seconded by Fee; the committee recorded no negative votes and adopted the bill as amended. The transcript did not record roll-call tallies or the number of affirmative votes.

The committee took no further action on other topics and adjourned.