The Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Post file photo
By ROBERT NOTT
SFNM
Legislation intended to update and revamp the state’s liquor license laws is close to becoming a reality.
But the final bill put together by the members of the Senate — called by one member “the best example of sausage making” in years — is a far cry from the original legislation that sought to allow home delivery of alcohol.
House Bill 255 evolved into a sweeping license overhaul bill that permits home delivery, allows new restaurateurs to purchase alcohol licenses at an affordable price and attempts to address the state’s ever-constant problem with booze.
At the heart of the legislation, its supporters say, is an attempt to address a decades-old liquor license setup that leads current owners to sell and lease them as if they are half-million dollar commodities.
“People treat that license like it was their personal property,” said Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto the main sponsor of the bill in the Senate. “They sell that license, they lease that license.
“But that license is not theirs,” he added. “It’s the state’s.”
The measure passed the Senate 29-11 and quickly made its way back to the House of Representatives — which had already voted to support the bill — for a vote of concurrence on new amendments. The legislation now goes to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to be signed into law.
Nora Meyers Sackett, spokeswoman for the governor, wrote in an email: “The administration is working with the sponsors of the legislation and is supportive of the bill’s aim.”
Ivey-Soto and other supporters of the measure said it’s time to open up that market to new mom-and-pop operations that can draw in tourists and offer New Mexicans more options and reasons to go out for a meal.
A number of senators proposed amendments to the bill during Tuesday’s floor debate, incorporating new changes and leveling out the buy-in price to obtain a liquor license.
Earlier versions of the bill set those price tags in a range from $2,500 to $10,000, depending on the size of the restaurant. But a new amendment accepted by the Senate Tuesday makes that fee $10,000 for all.
Another amendment, proposed by Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, would ban the sale of minis — those small, one-shot plastic bottles of alcohol — just about everywhere in the state. She said she hopes this leads to a decline in drinking, since some people may not be able to easily purchase those cheap drinks.
“DWI and DUI are not something we talk about much in this body anymore,” she said, referring to an issue that generally puts New Mexico at the top of any list for crashes and fatalities related to drunken driving.
Another amendment that likely will win approval with retailers, restaurant and bar owners, and consumers is the removal of a provision enacting a 2 percent excise tax on them.
Another amendment: Big-box stores in the state’s largest counties would be prohibited from delivering hard liquor to homes. They can deliver wine and beer.
Anyone ordering home delivery must show proof of age, regardless of how old they might appear to be. The lawful drinking age in New Mexico is 21.
Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, introduced an amendment related just to his home county of McKinley that would stop gas stations and convenience stores with gas pumps from selling hard liquor. Beer sales would be allowed under that provision.
Muñoz said that effort is needed to combat alcoholism and drinking and driving in his district. When other lawmakers asked if that provision could be expanded to the rest of the state, he responded, “Our problems in McKinley County are not the entire state’s problems.” The amendment was adopted.
The bill and its amendments did not find favor everywhere. Sen. Greg Baca, R-Belen, who voted against the bill, said that while liquor license reform has to occur, the legislation is bound to hurt existing liquor license owners, who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their licenses.
“No matter what we do, it’s going to dilute the value of those licenses in some way,” he said.
Opponents to the legislation — many of them current liquor license holders — have made the same argument, saying their investment ultimately will be devalued as more licenses flood the market.
Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque, who voted for the bill, acknowledged the legislation will harm some current business owners. But he said, “As a state as a whole we’re gaining a lot, especially with the tourism and hospitality industry.”
Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, introduced one last amendment, requiring the state Department of Health to conduct a study in five years looking at alcohol consumption trends and the home-delivery provision impact on public safety. The Senate voted to accept that amendment.
After the vote, Carol Wight, CEO of the New Mexico Restaurant Association, wrote in an email her group remains concerned for those who purchased liquor licenses for $300,000 and up — “legacy” licenses, as Ivey-Soto called them
“Our purpose has always been to make sure legacy licensees don’t lose value as we expand the ability for more restaurants to afford full-service licenses,” she wrote. “There are protections in this bill that will hopefully protect them and keep the value in their licenses. If not, we will come back to the Legislature next year to help them get justice.”
Meanwhile, Lujan Grisham signed a bill into law Tuesday that would waive liquor license fees for the coming year. Senate Bill 2, part of a package of pandemic relief measures, waives the next annual fee for renewed liquor licenses and for all new licenses issued in 2021.
“Waiving these fees is another way of delivering much-needed support for the businesses that have faced inordinate challenges throughout this incredibly challenging year,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.