Since the Beer Law became effective April 1, we have been watching the numbers to see what they can tell us. The Division of ABC reports the number of liquor store licenses have gone down from 748 in January 2019 to 727 in September 2019.  This is a downward trend that started two years ago when the law was passed.  There were 761 licensed liquor stores in 2017. Tax data is not as straightforward.  A report of enforcement tax receipts by county seems to show that liquor store sales are down when comparing June and July 2019 to June and July 2018.  However, different numbers were reported at the Legislative Budget Committee meeting.  We are pursuing answers from the Department of Revenue and will continue to monitor this data.  KABR members will be updated as new information becomes available.

Violations of the Liquor Control Act and the Cereal Malt Beverage Act can be reported directly to the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control through the website https://www.ksrevenue.org/abcindex.html.  We are aware of numerous instances of pricing violations addressed by the agency.