January 16, 2007
Alcohol Action Alert
Article Gives New Information about SB 948 - Bottle Service
Call the Governor (800-642-3112) and ask him to VETO SB 948.
Bottle law awaits Illinois governor's signature
By Kevin McDermott
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
01/15/2007
*SPRINGFIELD, Ill.* - When state liquor-control regulators last summer told more than a dozen Chicago nightclubs that their trendy practice of serving entire bottles of hard liquor to patrons for in-house consumption was illegal, the clubs quickly responded.
They called in their lobbyists, made their political contributions, and now are on the verge of getting the law changed.
Legislation to legalize the practice was passed in the final hours of the Illinois Legislature that adjourned Tuesday, and now is awaiting action by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. If he signs it, licensed establishments throughout Illinois will have permission to sell full bottles of vodka and other spirits to patrons for consumption at their tables.
Anti-alcohol activists say the "bottle service" uncorks dangers of overconsumption and underage drinking. They say that's why it has been illegal.
But the beverage industry argues that the practice wasn't clearly outlawed, which is why it wants a new law to back up what has been common practice in urban markets for years. State liquor regulators are holding off on action against the clubs until they see if the practice is legalized.
That decision will be made by Blagojevich - whose campaign received $7,000 on one October day from the clubs or their supporters, as the bottle legislation was being crafted.
Bottle service is popular at upscale nightclubs and restaurants. It means that, instead of requiring patrons to buy their drinks individually, a table can order a full bottle and share it.
It may sound simple, but the practice opens up a complex area of liquor-regulation law. Illinois statutes generally prohibit that kind of service of alcohol, on the theory that it diminishes the control that the business has over how much the patrons are drinking.
The law makes exceptions for pitchers of beer and bottles of wine. (In fact, a newly enacted change in the law allows partly finished bottles of wine to be resealed by the restaurant and sent home with the diners, under the rationale that diners might otherwise drink too much before they leave in an attempt to finish the bottle they've paid for.)
But the service industry in Chicago claims the law is silent on the issue of bottle service of hard liquor, which the industry has, for years, taken as permission.
Trendy Chicago nightclubs such as Enclave and Le Passage have routinely served bottles of boutique vodkas and other expensive liquors to tables of patrons. They generally charge hundreds of dollars per bottle for the service. The bottles usually are presented as part of a VIP treatment that includes favored tables and devoted service.
"The practice of bottle service has been pretty standardized in the nightclub industry here in Chicago for the past 15 years," said Harlan Powell, the Chicago attorney who represents several of the Chicago clubs in the dispute.
Powell says the practice has gone on without reports of problems.
'Serious drinking'
But critics say common sense dictates that a table of drinkers sharing a bottle is harder to monitor than individuals who buy one drink at a time. They say the new law could make the practice spread beyond chic nightclubs to other places where liquor is served, such as restaurants.
"If kids are at the table, no one (from the restaurant) is monitoring who is getting drinks," said Jeannie Lowe of the Illinois Church Action Council on Alcohol and Addiction Problems, which opposes the proposed change in the law. "You no longer have the waitress who is carding you and making sure you're not drinking too much."
Further, since the law doesn't allow hard liquor to be resealed and taken home like wine, Lowe said, there is the danger that patrons will push their limits in an attempt to finish that $200 bottle of vodka, rather than letting it go to waste.
Stephen Riedl of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association maintains that those worries are overblown. "Anyone who can afford a $200 bottle of vodka can afford to leave $100 worth of it on the table," he said.
Riedl's group maintains that Illinois law already allows bottle service of hard liquor, and that the latest conflict is the result of overzealous enforcement by state liquor regulators over the summer.
"People were doing this for years, and the Liquor Commission all the sudden started citing people," he said. "We said, 'Show us where this is in the law."
A Liquor Commission spokesman on Friday cited portions of the statutes that prohibit service of multiple alcoholic drinks at once, with specific exceptions for beer and wine and no mention of distilled spirits. The Liquor Commission has interpreted that to mean distilled spirits can't be served by the bottle. The agency cited 13 clubs in Chicago over the summer for violating that rule.
The industry responded with a push for new legislation. As those efforts got under way, several players in the controversy made substantial donations to Blagojevich, on whose desk the issue now rests.
Records show Harlan Powell's law firm, Webster Powell, donated $4,000 to the Democratic governor at an October fundraising event, by far the most the firm has contributed to any politician at one time in years.
The donations are "absolutely not" tied to the lobbying effort for the new law, Powell said Friday. "We're not talking to anyone on the governor's staff," he said.
On the same day, records show, the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association gave Blagojevich $2,000. Riedl, of the Beverage Association, said the group's donation had nothing to do with the legislation.
Also on that day, one of the nightclubs involved, Enclave, gave Blagojevich's campaign $1,000 - the only state political donation on record from the club to anyone.
An Enclave club manager, Matt Deichl, called bottle service "a crucial part of our business," but said the donation to Blagojevich wasn't intended to protect that business. "It was just (a fundraising) event we went to."
A Blagojevich spokesman couldn't be reached for comment.
In November, a month after those donations were made, legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 46-5. The bill moved to the House, where it won final approval on a 76-32 vote Tuesday, the last day it could have passed before the 94th General Assembly adjourned. The new Legislature was sworn in Wednesday, which means all legislation has to start from scratch.
The sponsor, Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said Friday he didn't view the issue as "any big deal" because it just puts into law what the industry has been doing for years, with all kinds of beverages.
Countered state Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, who was one of the "no" votes in the Senate: "There's a major difference between a bottle of vodka and a bottle of chardonnay."
Blagojevich has two months to act on the bill. If he doesn't either sign or veto it within that time, it automatically becomes law.
kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com | 217-782-4912