ABC Powers & Eight Principles

Eight Principles recommended for state liquor control, Senate Document 5 - January 1934

1. The first objectives of the plan should be temperance, social betterment and respect for law. The need for revenue should never be allowed to take top priority.
2. The plan should contain only the main guiding principles, leaving the control agency with wide discretionary powers regarding details of operation.
3. Each community in the State should retain the right to exercise local option restrictions on sales of liquor and other alcoholic beverages as its voters see fit with the exception that 3.2 beverages not be prohibited anywhere.
4. The sale of alcoholic beverages should be brought out into the open and vested with a decency which could be respected by the citizens.
5. The private profit motive, with its incentive to encourage sale and consumption of alcoholic beverage, should be minimized.
6. The return of the saloon, whether in its old form or in some new form, must be prevented.
7. In order to encourage temperance, the plan should discourage use of hard liquor and give relative encouragement to use of lighter alcoholic beverages.
8. The plan should be designed to insure the greatest good to the greatest number of citizens. Some compromise was necessary in that no single plan would satisfy every citizen.

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Powers recommended for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, Senate Document 5 - January 1934

1. The exclusive right to sell or control the sale of all alcoholic beverages having alcohol content more that 3.2 percent by weight.
2. The right to establish, maintain, and operate ABC stores for the retail sale of distilled spirits and wines for off-premise consumption.
3. The right to acquire, occupy, and improve land and buildings for its lawful purposes.
4. The right to issue and revoke permits for the retail sale of wine and beer in sealed packages for off-premise consumption and to establish regulations governing such sales.
5. The right to issue and revoke permits for the retail sale of wine and beer for on-premise consumption and to establish regulations governing such sales.
6. To issue permits for the manufacture of alcoholic beverages in the State and to establish regulations governing such manufacture.
7. In establishing stores and in issuing permits in the various communities of the State, the Board must respect the results of local option elections.
8. To hold hearings on complaints about matters in dispute and to have the power to subpoena witnesses.
9. To determine all policies and regulations for liquor control not specified in the law.

The committee also said the Board should keep accounts of its funds, make regular reports of its transactions to the Governor and General Assembly, and permit its books to be subject to audit by the State Auditor of Public Accounts. It also specified that the Board should be authorized to establish prices of the alcoholic beverages it sells.

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