DUE to its lack of effective enforcement provisions, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres on Friday vetoed House Bill 22-55 which proposes to require a separate license for online sales of alcoholic beverages.
Introduced by Rep. Leila Staffler, H.B. 22-55 stated that “it is imperative to amend certain statutes to allow for the issuance of a license for the online sale of alcoholic beverages to provide interested applicants with additional commercial opportunities.”
This opportunity will provide “great economic convenience to our Commonwealth for the benefit of future generations and commercial activities to come,” the bill added.
The measure would amend Public Law 15-115 or the Alcohol Beverage Control Act to add “online sale license” to the current list of alcohol license classifications.
An online sale license covers an electronic business that sells alcoholic beverage products via internet online shopping. The bill would allow the CNMI Department of Commerce secretary to promulgate rules in imposing a new license fee for online alcohol sales.
Serious concerns
In his veto message, the governor echoed the attorney general’s “serious concerns.”
He said H.B. 22-55 fails to address the need to establish an “effective enforcement regime” to ensure that liquor purchased online does not fall in the hands of those under 21 years of age.
He also shared the AG’s comment that the measure “calls for a self-policing system based on the assumption that most licenses will comply with the restrictions. Such system typically relies on hefty penalties and monetary fines as a deterrence against non-compliance.”
H.B. 22-55, the governor added, does not provide for any enhanced enforcement provisions beyond what is already provided in the Alcohol Beverage Control Act.
“In fact, it is not entirely clear whether the penalties and sanctions provided for in the law will apply to an online sale licensee who fails to comply with the restrictions set forth in the statute,” the governor said.
Also, the bill does not mention whether the penalty provisions in the subsequent subsections will apply to a non-compliant online sale licensee, he added.
“The absence of such language is significant. Without an articulated rational basis, the bill will create a double standard of enforcement that differentiates between non-online liquor sale licensees and online liquor licensees,” the governor said.
He requested the Legislature to “take steps to address the great ambiguities in the language of the proposed measure.”
He reiterated that “online liquor sales should be subject to the same, if not more, stringent licensing system given the nature of e-commerce business and the operational costs and difficulties of monitoring compliance.”
