4232612 Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration - Final Rulemaking - Reimbursable Detail Subsidy Program - 3/11/2013

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE REGULATION ADMINISTRATION

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL BOARD

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NOTICE OF FINAL RULEMAKING

 

 

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (Board), pursuant to the authority set forth in D.C. Official Code § 25-211(b)(2012 Supp.), hereby gives notice of the adoption of final rules to amend existing Subsection 718.2 of Chapter 7 (General Operating Requirements) of Title 23 (Alcoholic Beverages) of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR), by increasing the time period covered by the Reimbursable Detail Subsidy Program (Program) from 11:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. The rules would also allow reimbursement under the Program for hours worked on District or Federal holidays in addition to those hours worked by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers on Friday and Saturday nights.

 

The Fiscal Year 2011 Revised Budget Request Act of 2010, signed by the Mayor on December 17, 2010 (D.C. Act 18-657; 58 DCR 32 (January 7, 2011)) reduced funding for the Program by five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in Fiscal Year 2011.  On January 5, 2011, the Board put emergency and proposed rules in place to lengthen the amount of time that funding remained available in the Program for Fiscal Year 2011.  This rulemaking included a reduction in the percentage distribution of subsidies paid by the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) to MPD from fifty percent (50%) to twenty-five percent (25%) for MPD officers working reimbursable details under the Program.  

 

On March 2, 2011, the Board suspended funding for the Program on an emergency basis, effective April 1, 2011, to preserve the remaining funds left in the Program for use later in Fiscal Year 2011 during the busier summer months.  The March 2, 2011 emergency rulemaking also indicated that the Board would revisit the status of funding for the Program at its June 1, 2011, legislative meeting.  Given the importance of this Program to public safety, the Board voted on June 1, 2011, to increase the percentage distribution of subsidies paid by ABRA to MPD from zero percent (0%) to twenty-five percent (25%) when covering the costs incurred by Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) licensees for MPD officers working reimbursable details under the Program. The percentage distribution change under the Program to twenty-five percent (25%) took effect on July 1, 2011.  On October 5, 2011 the Board decided to reconsider the existing percentage distribution because additional funds are currently available in ABRA’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget to reinstate the percentage distribution of subsidies paid by ABRA to MPD under the Program from twenty-five percent (25%) back to fifty (50%) percent.   

 

On September 19, 2012, the Board permitted reimbursement under the Program for hours worked on District or Federal holidays in addition to Friday and Saturday nights as part of the Board’s implementation of the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Support Act of 2012, which allows eligible on-premise licensees to sell and serve alcoholic beverages until 4:00 a.m. and operate 24 hours a day on District or Federal holidays and certain holiday weekends. As a result of this additional hour of alcohol sales on District or Federal holidays and certain holiday weekends, the Board has also decided to make the Subsidy available to on-premise licensees until 5:00 a.m.

 

Pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 25-211(b)(2) (2012 Supp.), the proposed rules were transmitted to the Council of the District of Columbia (Council), for a ninety (90) day period of Council review on September 17, 2012.  The rules were approved by Council Resolution R20-0029, the “Reimbursable Details Subsidy Program Resolution of 2012”, adopted by the Council at its February 5, 2013, legislative meeting.  These final rules were adopted by the Board on February 27, 2013, on a vote of four (4) to zero (0) and they will become effective five (5) days after publication in the D.C. Register.

 

Section 718, REIMBURSABLE DETAIL SUBSIDY PROGRAM, of Chapter 7, GENERAL OPERATING REQUIREMENTS, of Title 23, ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, of the DCMR is amended by replacing Subsection 718.2 to read as follows:

 

718.2         ABRA will reimburse MPD fifty percent (50%) of the total cost of invoices submitted by MPD to cover the costs incurred by licensees for MPD officers working reimbursable details on Friday and Saturday nights and District or federal Holidays.  The hours eligible for reimbursement on Friday and Saturday nights shall be 11:30 p.m.  to 5:00 a.m.  MPD shall submit to ABRA on a monthly basis invoices documenting the fifty percent (50%) amount owed by each licensee.  Invoices will be paid by ABRA to MPD within thirty (30) days of receipt in the order that they are received until the subsidy program’s funds are depleted.