2019-09-05 Liquor Adjudication Board Minutes

Home

Smith: Just to follow up on some of the other thoughts from Mr. Mukai, you understand the rules, you understand the gravity of the rules, you understand why the rules are in place, and you understand why the Department has these sting operations to ensure compliance. If you look at our agenda, there's five situations that are here where there was non-compliance. There needs to be consequences for not following the rules. As you admitted, this is not the first infraction of your business, and as you mentioned, the community of Keaukaha really appreciates the services your company provides because you're not just selling alcohol and tobacco, but food and everything else. I sympathize with everything you're doing, appreciate everything you've done in the community, but by the same token, I think there needs to be consequences for non-compliance. Okay? Sumera-Lee: I agree. Smith: So, we'll get to it. Giffin: Mr. Gonzalez? Gonzalez: Thank you, Ms. Chair, Brandon Gonzalez, Administrative Officer. We have five cases on the agenda today. They all deal with sales to minors, done as an administrative compliance check by the Department. The Police Department was not involved. That is why there are no criminal cases involved. It's all administrative. Because we have five similar cases, if you'd give me the next few minutes to explain the compliance checks and what we did so that you will have a better framework of what occurred. Giffin: Thank you. Gonzalez: The stories and the narratives that we hear today, will all be relevant. We had minor decoys under the age of 21 go in and attempt to purchase alcohol from various establishments on June 20, 2019. We checked 32 licensed establishments. Of the 32 establishments, 5 sold liquor to minors. Of the 5 that sold, the Director said at least half, so of the 5 that sold, 2 did not check IDs at all. They just sold. That left 3 that checked IDs. The 3 that checked IDs explained it as follows: • One said they misread the date of birth • One said they mistook the date of birth and input into the register 1998 instead of 1999 • And one Licensee said they miscalculated and added the date of birth wrong. Gonzalez: Our decoys are instructed, if they're asked for the ID, to present their State of Hawaii ID. I have prepared for you their IDs and what it looks like. For Keaukaha General Store, Decoy #2 was in the store. I have a paper colored version and the other is in black and white. As it was discussed earlier by Member Taniguchi, at the very top, besides it being oriented vertically indicating that it's for a minor, says 21st and on what date they turn 21. Under that, it says 18 and exactly what date they turn 18. Gonzalez: The part that was tricky, like the Licensee described, is the human input error. But that excuse has come up for years, which is why the licenses have evolved to the point where SEPTEMBER 5, 2019-LIQUOR ADJUDICATION BOARD MINUTES 8