Anchorage

Anchorage bars can open earlier in the morning if alcohol tax takes effect, city Assembly decides

Anchorage bars and restaurants will be allowed to serve alcohol earlier in the morning so long as voters approve a proposed tax on alcohol in the April election, according to a new law narrowly passed by the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night.

The measure potentially allows alcohol to be served in Anchorage at 9 a.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. on weekends and state holidays. Right now, the earliest is 10 a.m. The measure does not affect package stores and craft breweries.

Bar owners had lobbied for the change for years. But the measure authorized Tuesday night comes with a catch: It only takes effect if voters support a local alcohol tax in the April 2 city election. The alcohol industry has been mounting a vigorous campaign against the tax.

Assemblyman Dick Traini, who proposed tying together the tax and the hours change, characterized it as a trade-off.

“It’s quite simple: Don’t fight against this, and you can have bar hours increased,” Traini said. “Defeat the alcohol tax, and this disappears like this never happened.”

[Anchorage voters will decide on alcohol tax this spring]

The original sponsor of the measure, Eric Croft, said he didn’t necessarily agree with Traini on tying the hours change and the alcohol tax together.

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Reactions were mixed among supporters and opponents of the alcohol tax. Tiffany Hall, the executive director of Recover Alaska, a nonprofit that works to curb excessive drinking, said studies have shown that extending the hours of drinking establishment comes with a corresponding increase in harm caused by alcohol.

Those studies aren’t specific to extended morning hours, but there is also no research showing that extended hours reduce harm either, Hall said.

Hall said she was glad the hours change would only take effect if the tax was approved.

“It softens the blow a little bit for me,” she said.

At the same time, she said she didn’t see a clear reason to combine the two issues.

Meanwhile, Sarah Oates, the executive director of the Alaska Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retailers Association, decried the approach. She said her organization thinks earlier hours will help small businesses, cater to night shift workers and early-morning sports fans, and that it is unrelated to the alcohol tax.

“It just seems inappropriate to hold one issue hostage, so to speak,” Oates said.

Industry members were unlikely to lay down their opposition to the tax in exchange for the earlier hours, Oates added. She said bars and restaurants would mainly be the businesses that benefit.

The alcohol tax, meanwhile, affects all retail businesses, regardless of their hours, Oates said.

Voting starts in the city election on March 12. The last day to vote is April 2, with results officially certified a few weeks later.

Devin Kelly

Devin Kelly was an ADN staff reporter.

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