Panel OKs alcohol awareness measure

Friday, April 8, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A bill that requires bartenders and liquor store clerks to be trained in alcohol awareness was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee Thursday.

Clark County, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas already require such training, but Assembly Bill 221 would extend that statewide.

As amended, the bill requires businesses that sell liquor for consumption on or off the premises to have by July 1, 2006, at least one employee on the premises who has completed the training.

Every employee who sells alcohol would have to complete the course by Jan. 1, 2008, or the owner would face fines ranging from $500 to $5,000, depending on the number of violations.

The two hours of instruction would include the clinical effects of alcohol on the human body, identifying intoxicated persons, laws on the sale of alcohol; methods of preventing or halting fights and ways to stop minors from buying liquor.

The money collected from the fines could go to the state and be placed in a fund for compensation of victims of crime.

The committee accepted an amendment from Metro Police that there be a 30-day grace period for an employee to complete the program after being hired. It also accepted an amendment to lower the training hours from four to two for employees.

The original bill exempted resort hotels from the requirement that its employees have this training, but that exemption was removed.

Exempt from the training requirement would be a wholesale liquor dealer or a private club.

The bill goes to the floor of the Assembly for a vote, probably next week.

The committee also approved Assembly Bill 118 that tightens the no-smoking law in child-care facilities and bans smoking in video arcades that have 10 or more machines and are accessible to minors.

The bill removes the authority of a person in charge of a child-care business to designate a smoking area in the place. Under the bill the smoking ban would apply to child care-facilities that care for five or more children. At present the smoking prohibition extends to centers that have 13 or more children.

The committee also approved Assembly Bill 519 that gives the state Department of Agriculture authority to revoke the permit of persons enrolled in the medical marijuana program.

The department would be required to toss a person out of the program if he or she were caught selling marijuana or if the person had provided false information to enroll.

The committee did not accept the suggestion of John O'Connor of Fallon who wanted those in the program to be able to grow and possess more marijuana for their ailments. At present a person may have one ounce of marijuana in his or her possesssion and three mature marjuana plants and four inmature plants.

O'Connor, whose father is enrolled in the program, said the three plants don't produce enough marijuana for three months. His father goes through 3.5 pounds of marijuana per year in his brownies and cookies, he said.