Representatives of two community and industry groups briefed the Alcohol Beverage Board of St. Mary’s County on ongoing efforts to reduce underage drinking and on legislative issues the retail sector is watching for the 2013 Maryland session.

Jenna Mullick, program coordinator for Health Connections at MedStar Saint Mary’s Hospital and coordinator of the Community Alcohol Coalition, said the coalition recently held fraudulent‑identification training and distributed an ID‑toolkit — including a black‑light magnifier and reference materials — to retailers and attendees. The coalition plans a social marketing campaign called "Can You Afford It?" to run in January, with bus ads, billboards, posters and outreach aimed at teens, parents and employers to highlight legal, financial and safety consequences of underage drinking.

"We gave everybody that attended a fraudulent‑ID session a toolkit," Mullick said. She also told board members the coalition is forming a subcommittee to draft a standard consequence matrix for compliance‑check failures, with the goal of delivering a proposal for the board’s review in the coming months.

The St. Mary’s County Retail Beverage Association reported it will monitor multiple items in Annapolis during the upcoming legislative session. Association representatives singled out two priorities: any state‑level changes to dram‑shop liability — which could expose licensees to additional civil liability — and proposals to allow grocery or box stores to hold licenses that now typically go to smaller, local retailers.

The association described dram‑shop proposals as potentially increasing insurance and liability costs for local licensees and warned that broad changes to who can hold licenses could harm small independent businesses. "Maryland is one of the few states that protect licensees," a representative said; the association said it will follow proposed bills and seek to influence language and fiscal impacts.

Both groups asked for continued cooperation with the board and law enforcement on training and compliance checks. The board’s enforcement report at the meeting noted the sheriff’s office conducted compliance checks and a sobriety checkpoint in November; the county reported 14 DUI arrests for the month and zero compliance‑check failures at a recent set of retail checks.

The coalition and retailers pledged further outreach and training in 2013 to lower underage sales and improve ID verification practices.