MONTGOMERY, Ala — Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, who previously placed a temporary hold on dozens of state contracts, released them last week after the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board adopted an amendment to its rules pertaining to online training for alcohol servers.
A 2023 law spearheaded by Elliott mandated that the ABC Board accommodate online training for those serving alcohol, and while the board has provided a form of online training for a few years, it had not updated its rules to reflect the new law.
“I appreciate the work that’s been done on this,” said ABC Board Chair Alan Spencer, shortly after the board had voted unanimously to adopt the rule change championed by Elliott and Mindy Hanan, president of the Alabama Restaurant and Hospitality Association.
The ABC Board offers what is known as the Responsible Vendor Program, a voluntary training course that if completed, permits 18, 19 and 20 year olds to serve alcohol. It also reduces liability for businesses that serve alcohol as it relates to fees and fines.
“I think that this is a very pro-business move and I think it’s going to make it a lot easier for our businesses to train their employees in the responsible service of alcohol,” Hanan told ADN.
Curtis Stewart, ABC Board administrator, told ADN after the meeting that the board was slow to update its rules given that online training was already being accommodated for, as was mandated under Elliott’s legislation, and characterized the rule change as establishing “more guidelines” around online RVP training.
“Our current rule that’s on the books says that all training has to be in person; we’ve actually been allowing online training since the end of COVID, so the change that they wanted was for us to go ahead with a rule that says how you do the online training,” Stewart said.
“…It wasn’t that we weren’t allowing online training, therefore there was no urgency to jump out there and do something when that legislation passed because we were already allowing it.”
Another matter of contention with the ABC Board was that its online RVP training lacked options for on-demand online training, and was often facilitated via video calls through software such as Zoom. The rule change the board adopted, as written by Hanan, would facilitate such on-demand online training, something Hanan called “necessary.”
“On-demand online is really what is necessary, it’s not to schedule a Zoom meeting with someone because a lot of our establishments are only open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and so the classes are scheduled not necessarily in your city and during the day ordinarily,” she told ADN.
“So having a class that’s available online, on demand, will make it much easier for the businesses to accomplish this training.”
Elliott, who watched the ABC Board’s Montgomery meeting virtually, told ADN that he was satisfied with the board’s decision, and that he would immediately release his remaining holds on state contracts. Late last week he’d released some contracts from select agencies.
“While I disagree with the characterization that ABC made, that they currently have this option for online training – a Zoom call is not the same as online training – I appreciate their willingness to listen and to move forward on a rule change, albeit 18 months after the statute was signed into law,” Elliott told ADN.
“I think at the end of the day, it’s a good win for the Legislature to show that we are business friendly, and I appreciate the ABC Board getting in gear.”
The rule change as adopted will now enter a 45-period for public comment.