Underage alcohol sales could cost retailers far more than a fine if the D.C. Council adopts legislation approving mandatory minimum liquor license suspensions.
The bill, introduced by Ward 1 Council Member Jim Graham, would require a minimum three-day license suspension for any retailer caught selling alcohol to a person under 21, the legal drinking age. Under the legislation, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board would have the authority to suspend a business’ license for up to 30 days.
Existing fines are too lenient and licensees aren’t taking the law seriously, Graham said Monday.
“Anyone who sells alcohol to somebody who looks and is 15 years old doesn’t deserve to have the privilege, and we must send a strong message that if they’re not careful, they’re going to lose the privilege,” he said.
In a public hearing before Graham’s committee earlier this year, teenage participants in ongoing sting operations said some clerks sell them beer — and claim “She looked 35” when nabbed — even after examining their valid identification, which clearly displays their birth date and the year they turn 21.
In 2005, 24 percent of 200 compliance checks yielded underage sales, said Maria Delaney, director of the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration.
Of the 24 percent, 30 percent sold to minors ages 16 or younger.
Convenience stores generally oppose mandates “that dictate how to best run our businesses,” said Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores. Alcohol sales, he said, make up roughly 12 percent of convenience store revenues, so the “industry as a whole has to be extremely responsible about selling a wide range of underage products.”
Mandatory suspensions, Lenard said, could punish an owner when a clerk is really at fault.
And, he added, the majority of convenience stores are mom-and-pop operations that aren’t aware of best practices when it comes to preventing underage sales.
Existing fines for sales
» $1,000 fine for a first violation
» $2,000 fine for a second violation within two years
» $4,000 fine for a third within three years
