Measure introduced to stop carding of man’amko buying alcohol, cigarettes

In an effort to finally put some common sense on a law that mandates the carding of anyone buying alcohol or cigarettes, Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (Ind-Saipan) and Sen. Sixto Igisomar (R-Saipan) have introduced a bill to repeal and reenact some provisions of Public Law 17-83.

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.

According to Senate Bill 18-73, the Legislature finds that “certain provisions of PL 11-75 and PL 17-83, requiring retail vendors of alcohol and tobacco products to demand the presentation of a valid identification card each time a person attempts to purchase any alcohol and tobacco products have had a growing adverse effect in the community.”

The legislation also noted that the enforcement of the mandatory ID card requirement prior to selling any alcoholic beverage and tobacco products at retail establishments has resulted in numerous complaints, specifically from older adults and senior citizens.

“Many people have complained about the absurdity and impracticality of demanding the presentation of a valid ID card on regular or daily basis from the same patrons of legal age who are regular customers of retail establishment,” the bill reads.

Instead of carding everyone, the bill offers an amendment that reads, “No person shall sell, give, serve or permit his/her agent to sell, give or serve any alcoholic beverage products to any person under 21 years of age. The licensee or his/her agent shall exercise prudent judgment and shall not transact any sale of alcoholic beverages without first demanding that a person who obviously appears to be below forty-five (45) years of age present an official unexpired government document of identification issued by the CNMI government, municipalities of the CNMI, the United States government, United States’ states, United States territories, or by foreign governments which bears the person’s full name, current photograph, and date of birth indicating that the possessor is twenty-one (21) years of age or older and that said presentation and verifications occurs.”

The bill also stated that “the licensee or his/her agent may exercise prudent judgment and may not repeat the demand for presentation of a valid ID card from the same person whom the identification has been verified, and may document that the person is of legal age to purchase alcoholic beverage products in a ledger formatted to indicate the person’s name, date of birth, type of valid ID card verified, date the ID is issued and the expiration, and the date the ID was verified.”

The past couple of months, many have complained about retail establishments’ strict application of the carding provision of PL 17-83. Senior citizens are some of the loudest critics, with a few of them losing their tempers as obvious greybeards are carded by hapless store attendants.

Retail establishments, however, have no choice as the Division of Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco Control have stepped up enforcement of the law, which fines stores up to $1,000 for not carding buyers.