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JALCAR questions Liquor Commission emergency rule on beer labels; committee offers no formal objection
Summary
JALCAR discussed a Liquor Commission emergency rule narrowing grounds to deny beer labels allegedly advertising to children. Committee members questioned whether a $200,000 cost to a local brewery constituted the financial emergency standard; no formal motion or objection was made.
During the same JALCAR meeting, committee staff reviewed an emergency rule submitted by the Liquor Commission addressing beer-label approvals. Staff said the Liquor Commission created language to avoid automatically denying beer labels that include dessert imagery after several label denials that were perceived as ambiguous.
Staff described the Liquor Commission’s position that a local brewery spent about $200,000 on new labels and that the financial impact on that business constituted a financial emergency warranting an emergency rule. Staff asked the committee whether the $200,000 impact met JALCAR’s criteria for an emergency rule, which must relate to public health, public safety, or financial emergency under the committee’s standards.
Committee members noted the situation could be seen as a “gray area” because it was a business cost the brewery incurred. One committee member said loosening label requirements would be preferable. Representative McGuire said the requirement that the Liquor Commission approve beer labels “has been an issue for a while,” and added, “anything we can do to loosen up the requirements, the better. I think showing ice cream on an ice cream flavored beverage seems perfectly rational to me.”
Staff explained JALCAR could object to an emergency rule if it determined the agency had not met the emergency criteria and could ask the agency to withdraw the rule. At the meeting, no member moved to object, and there was no recorded vote objection in the transcript. The committee did not take formal action on the emergency liquor rule and moved on to other business.
