Brief (1)
SB 178, as amended by the House Committee of the Whole, would amend the Liquor Control Act concerning qualifications for a liquor license under the act. The floor amendment deletes the ten-year residency requirement for distributors. New language provides that, if the applicant has not been a resident of Kansas for one year prior to submitting the application, the applicant must submit to a national criminal history record check and provide the Director of Alcoholic Beverage Control with a legible set of fingerprints.
The Director would submit the fingerprints to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to verify the identity of the applicant and determine whether the applicant had been convicted of a crime which would disqualify the applicant. All costs incurred shall be paid by the applicant.
In order to complete the national criminal history record check of a nonresident applicant who submitted the application after January 31, 2001, the Director shall enter an order either refusing or granting the license within 90 days after the application is filed. If the Director does not enter an order within 90 days, the license shall be deemed to have been refused. The Director, with the written consent of the applicant, may delay entering an order for an additional period not exceeding 30 days.
SB 178, as introduced, required additional copies of state agency publications to be sent to the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives. Also, the bill required each state agency to notify legislative members of the availability of such copies. Currently, the publications are sent to the Governor, State Librarian, Secretary of the State Historical Society, the Secretary of the Legislative Coordinating Council, and to each member of the Legislature. The House Committee deleted these provisions and inserted the amendments to the Liquor Control Act.
Background
The Committee amendments to the Liquor Control Act were presented by the House Chairman as a response to the recent court decision, at the request of the Acting Director of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The Acting Director testified in favor of the amendments.
A representative of the Kansas Wine and Spirits Wholesalers expressed a number of concerns about the amendments to the Liquor Control Act.
SB 178 was introduced by the Senate Committee on Utilities by the Chairperson of that Committee. No conferees testified on the bill at the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs hearing.
There is no fiscal note on the amended version of the bill.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi