ATF and TTB: Is Another Divorce on the Horizon? What’s Going on with the Agency?
By Robert M. Tobiassen, Compliance Consultant and former Chief Counsel, TTB
Forward by John Hinman: We asked Rob why TTB was structured the way it was, what we can expect to happen as the 2019 budget is implemented and what kind of TTB enforcement policies will be in place going forward. He responded with the history and status of the agency, and his prognosis for the future, based on his long experience in Washington DC. This article is must reading for every professional in the alcoholic beverage industry who interfaces with the TTB.
Introduction
Disruption is the descriptive word du jour used by every industry experiencing change and challenges in its global supply chain, manufacturing models, distribution channels, and attracting and retaining consumers. The Trump Administration is similarly disrupting Executive Branch agencies through its political appointees, program change mandates, and budget reallocations. TTB is not exempt from this disruption and the fiscal year 2019 proposed budget foreshadows a possible second divorce for ATF and TTB that could alter the culture of TTB. Industry members and other stakeholders learned lessons from the first agency divorce in 2003, specifically about how criminal law enforcement agencies function. It behooves everyone today to pay heed to these lessons of history as the proposed budget moves forward.
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The ABC’s Strict Application of Penalties for Sales to Minors
By John Edwards and John Hinman
The Modern History of the Use of Decoys to buy Alcohol
Hinman & Carmichael has been representing licensees charged by the ABC with sales to minor decoy violations for over 30 years. We have defended hundreds of cases during that period. We appealed one particularly egregious minor decoy case in 1992 on a constitutional defense. Our grounds for appeal were that the program was entrapment, there were no standards of conduct of the program that made it fair and there was no statutory exception allowing the program to exist. Because of our appeal, the entire state-wide decoy program was suspended for almost two years before the California Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that law enforcement could use minor decoys provided there were standards. We ultimately prevailed to the extent that the industry, in Rule 141 in 1996, established required standards of law enforcement conduct when running minor decoy programs.
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By Erin Kelleher and Rob Tobiassen, Compliance Consultant and Former Chief Counsel (TTB)
On Friday, TTB issued an industry circular to help winery licensees struggling with an unintended consequence of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) - - which became effective on January 1 of this year. The “fix” to the problem described below is only temporary and expires on June 30, 2018. Hopefully that is enough time for a permanent solution to be adopted in a technical corrections bill, or by Rule change.
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By: Barbara Snider, Senior Counsel, and John Hinman, Senior Partner
Welcome to the insanely complicated world of alcohol regulation!
New legislative changes have now clarified that it’s a crime for almost all licensees to provide free transportation home from events and evenings out.
Unbeknown to most, California ABC law has consistently prohibited almost all alcoholic beverage licensees from providing free rides to customers because “free rides” are considered by the ABC an impermissible “thing of value,” and are considered by the anti-alcohol forces an inducement to consumption. While this prohibition has seldom (if ever) been enforced, it places responsible licensees who want to make sure that their customers are getting home safely in a very difficult spot – do they violate the law by providing a free ride home, or do they potentially endanger the community by allowing an inebriated customer to drive (or get) home on their own?
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TTB is making its presence known in the unfair trade practice arena. In July 2017, it announced a joint investigation by TTB and Florida State Authorities in the Miami area and then in September it followed with a joint investigation by TTB and Illinois State Authorities in Chicago, the Quad Cities, and Peoria. Both press releases from TTB emphasize these investigations are focusing on “pay to play” schemes.
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