ABTC wants Legislature to amend carding provision

With the Office Attorney General thumbing down its plan to issue a memo exempting senior citizens from being carded when buying tobacco and alcohol, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage & Tobacco Control is now asking the Legislature to amend the controversial provision of Public Law 17-83.

ABTC director Edward Maratita said the OAG advised them that issuing a memo to retail stores to no longer card senior citizens is against the law.

“Our office took the opportunity in writing out the memo to give out to the stores, but unfortunately the AG’s Office came back and advised us not to issue that memo because it’s contrary to the law. AG [Gilbert Birnbrich] said for that change to happen it has to take an act of [the Legislature],” Maratita told Saipan Tribune.

Maratita said ABTC is asking for the community’s cooperation and understanding until such time the law is amended.

“Although we tried every avenue to try and pacify the community in respect to the mandatory card requirement, that is the response from the AG’s office. We were supposed to give them the opportunity to at least not card senior citizens. Our next move is to work with the Legislature on this mandatory ID card requirement and see what kind of language is needed to amend the law.”

He said the draft form of the bill from the OAG is already at the Senate after ABTC communicated with the offices of Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan) and Sen. Paul Manglona (Ind-Saipan) to address the issue.

Maratita said he contacted Manglona because the carding issue and complaints from customers is no longer a Saipan issue as even Rota and Tinian residents have also come forward to voice their displeasure.

“Our memo was trying to pacify the issue out there with respect to the senior citizens because of the complaints that have bombarded our office and especially criticism received by retail establishments. [However], the language of the law says that they have to demand an ID card. It doesn’t say that they use common sense or look at the person to see whether they are old enough or what. That’s not the language of the law,” said Maratita.

The ABTC chief also appealed to the community not to blame stores and establishments.

“It’s not the fault of retailers. They’re just following what is written. We also didn’t write the law; we’re just enforcing it. That’s part of the responsibilities of the retailers, to make sure that they comply with the law. One of the main reason attributed to this enforcement is the fine that was created under Public 17-83, which raised the fine from a slap on the hand, which is a suspension, to $1,000 for not carding people who are buying alcohol or cigarettes.”

Maratita also explained that the carding law has always been there and that PL 17-83 just re-enforced the responsibility of carding.

PL 17-83 was passed in the 17th Legislature in September 2012 and because of the law ABTC was forced to revamp its regulations, which was adopted in March 2013, that included the outreach and seminars to retailers to make carding mandatory regardless of age.

PL 17-83 limits the sale of tobacco to persons over 18 years old and requires establishments to ask everyone—regardless of age—to present a government-issued identification card.

Sen. Reyes, meanwhile, said he’s still not totally convinced that carding people who appear to be of legal age to buy cigarettes or alcohol is the right thing to do.

“This is an absence of common sense. I’ve asked our legal counsel to review the law so we can draft an amendment to include common sense on the law. I still hear people who continue to be asked to produce ID cards even if they visibly look of legal age.”