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Liquor Commission seeks staff, IT and body-camera funding as vacancies strain licensing and enforcement
Summary
The Liquor Commission requested an 11% FY27 budget increase driven by salary costs, an IT upgrade to finish its custom L2 system, body-worn camera purchases and a records-management position. Commissioners warned long-standing investigator vacancies and pay classification limits are hindering seven-day enforcement coverage and licensing processing.
Assistant Administrator Anna Hirai told the Budget Committee on March 10 that the Liquor Commission's FY27 request is roughly an 11% increase from FY26 and is driven primarily by salary costs. Key budget items include funding for records management (an additional 1.48 FTE), $100,000 to complete the L2 information system transition, $50,000 to finish a planned body-worn camera purchase (half of the cameras already bought), and replacement of aging enforcement vehicles.
Hirai said the Commission remains a self-funded special fund entity: licensing fees are the principal revenue source and the Commission expects to remain within statutory revenue-to-budget ceilings. The Commission reported about 1,506 active licensees and said license-fee revenue continues to support operations, but several long-term vacancies remain a challenge: historically hard-to-fill Liquor Control Investigator 3 (LCI3) supervisory slots have remained open for years and are contributing to overtime in licensing and limited enforcement coverage.
Enforcement chief Seth Mayer told Council members the Commission is moving to expand field coverage toward seven-day enforcement and to increase daytime inspection capacity as new investigators are trained. Council members pressed personnel classification and pay: they urged DH personnel/human-resources coordination and exploration of bargaining-unit or reclassification changes so investigator pay is more competitive and can be retained. The Commission said it is pursuing operational workflow improvements (permitted interaction groups addressing licensing backlog) and remains committed to completing body-worn camera rollout and policy updates in consultation with the union.
Next steps: The Commission will continue recruitment and work with Council and labor representatives to explore classification/compensation options and accelerate the L2 and camera rollouts. Staff reported 13 of 19 internal initiatives are complete; remaining items include full body-worn camera integration and some policy updates under HGEA review.
