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July 16, 2024 SB 24-231
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Final Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 24-1176
Sen. Rodriguez; Gardner
Rep. Snyder; Frizell
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
July 16, 2024
Signed into Law
John Armstrong | 303-866-6289
john.armstrong@coleg.gov
Bill Topic: ALCOHOL BEVERAGE LIQUOR ADV ISORY GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☒ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☒ TABOR Refund
☒ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
The bill makes several changes to liquor licensing and regulation. The bill increases
state revenue and expenditures and has a minimal workload impact on local
governments beginning in FY 2024-25.
Appropriation
Summary:
For FY 2024-25, the bill requires and includes an appropriation of $5,000 to the
Department of Revenue.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The final fiscal note reflects the enacted bill.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts Under SB 24-231
Budget Year
FY 2024-25
Out Year
FY 2025-26
Revenue
- -
Expenditures Cash Funds $5,000 -
Transfers - -
Other Budget Impacts
- -
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July 16, 2024 SB 24-231
Summary of Legislation
The bill makes several changes to liquor enforcement and administration.
Licensing changes. Under current law, one liquor license exists for lodging and entertainment
facilities. The bill separates this license into two separate license types for each facility.
The bill also creates two new license types: an alcohol beverage shipper license for shippers that
sell wine for certain licensed wineries, and a catering license that allows caterers to be permitted
to sell and serve alcohol on unlicensed premises at catered events. These new license types do
not take effect until the Liquor Enforcement Division (LED) in the Department of Revenue (DOR)
has sufficient legally available funding, no earlier than January 1, 2026.
Under current law, a winery may have one manufacturing license for two noncontiguous
locations provided they are within 10 miles of each other. The bill expands this ability for
licensed premises to have two separate locations to include limited wineries, distilleries and
breweries.
Feasibility study. The bill requires the LED to undertake a feasibility study for adopting an
online portal system which would allow liquor license applications and renewals to be
completed online. The study must be completed by January 1, 2028, and report to the legislative
finance committees by March 1, 2028.
Local licensing authorities. The bill allows local liquor licensing authorities to delegate their
licensing authority to the state when the location of the business is on state-owned property.
The bill removes the requirement that a local liquor licensing authority hold a public hearing
upon receipt of a license application.
Tastings and classes. Under current law, tastings conducted by liquor licensees may not occur
before 11 a.m. The bill changes the time to 10 a.m. Additionally, the bill allows off-premises
retailers to conduct tastings, subject to certain requirements, and allows retail liquor stores to
hold educational classes so long as they not charge a per-drink fee. These licensees must track
participants to ensure they do not allow participants to attend another tasting event on the
premises on the same day.
Biennial licenses. Currently, liquor licenses are renewed annually. The bill allows biennial (every
two year) renewal. Payments for biennial licenses are divided between two annual payments.
The LED may require a business to obtain an annual license if certain rules are violated.
Distillery sales rooms. The bill allows distillers that have a sales room to purchase and use
common beverages to combine with their products to produce cocktails for consumption on or
off the premises.
Wholesalers. The bill allows wholesalers to obtain an importer’s license and to conduct trade
show events to allow businesses to sample products.
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July 16, 2024 SB 24-231
Transfer of inventory and license. A liquor licensed retail store that is going out of business
may sell its inventory to another licensee, provided both the buyer and the seller abide by
certain requirements. The seller’s license may be transferred to the buyer if certain requirements
are met.
Sales from retail liquor stores to other license types. Under current law, certain license types
may purchase up to $2,000 worth of product from a retail liquor store annually. The bill
increases this limit to $7,000 annually and provides the ability for this limit to be adjusted for
inflation. The LED must post this limit annually on their website.
Christmas Day sales. The bill allows sale of alcoholic beverages on December 25.
Prohibition on marijuana sales. The bill prohibits liquor licensees from selling marijuana
products.
Comparable Crime Analysis
Legislative Council Staff is required to include certain information in the fiscal note for any bill
that creates a new crime, changes the classification of an existing crime, or creates a new factual
basis for an existing crime. The following section outlines crimes that are comparable to the
offense in this bill and discusses assumptions on future rates of criminal convictions resulting
from the bill.
Prior conviction data and assumptions. This bill removes factual bases for various unlawful
acts in the Colorado Liquor Code, which are class 2 misdemeanors. From FY 2020-21 to
FY 2022-23, zero offenders have been sentenced and convicted for a liquor code-related
offense; therefore, the fiscal note assumes that there will continue to be minimal or no
additional criminal case filings or convictions for this offense under the bill. Because the bill is
not expected to have a tangible impact on criminal justice-related revenue or expenditures at
the state or local levels, these potential impacts are not discussed further in this fiscal note.
State Revenue
The bill allows licenses to convert from an annual license to a biennial license; however, the
billing cycle for these biennial licenses is still annual and is not expected to have an impact on
state revenue.
State Expenditures
The bill increases state expenditures in the DOR by $5,000 in FY 2024-25, paid from the LED
Cash Fund. LED’s licensing software will require programming to split the current lodging and
entertainment license into separate licenses. The bill also increases workload for DOR to conduct
rulemaking and modify enforcement procedures and materials, although no change in
appropriations is required for this workload
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July 16, 2024 SB 24-231
The new catering and winery shipping licenses will require additional criminal investigators and
administration to process new applications and enforce regulations for these license holders;
however, their implementation is contingent upon available funding. The fiscal note assumes
that funding is not available and that these new license types will not be available to caterers
and winery shippers until a funding source is identified. For informational purposes, the
administrative cost associated with administering these two licenses is estimated at $526,646,
which includes the cost of 4.2 FTE, contract enforcement operatives, and compliance investigator
equipment and vehicle costs.
Local Government
Local liquor licensing authorities will have decreased workload due to the removal of the
requirement to hold a public hearing whenever a new license application is received. However,
complying with the bill’s other provisions may result in updating forms and procedures. The net
impact of the bill is expected to be neutral for local governments.
Effective Date
The bill was signed into law by the Governor on May 18
,
2024, and takes effect on
August 7, 2024, assuming no referendum petition is filed, except that the sections of the
bill create the new catering and winery shipping licenses take effect once the Department
of Revenue has identified funding for that purpose.
State Appropriations
For FY 2024-25, the bill requires and includes a $5,000 appropriation to the Department of
Revenue from the Liquor Enforcement Division and State Licensing Authority Cash Fund.
State and Local Government Contacts
Revenue
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit the General Assembly website.