Interpretations of Law and Advisory Opinions from the SLA

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Law is fairly old. And although the statute does evolve (somewhat) over time, there are many inventions, scenarios and questions that were never contemplated and are still not accounted for. The mechanism that the SLA employs to deal with this fact, is that they allow for attorneys to request interpretations of the statute within the context of a current set of facts. This is called making a declaratory ruling request. This involves us preparing a proposal for the SLA that is submitted and reviewed by consulting the statute and SLA’s Counsel, and then the item is discussed at a public hearing. We attend that hearing, make a presentation and engage in as much back and forth as is necessary. Ultimately, the SLA will issue a ruling based on what is discussed. This ruling or interpretation of the statute will then guide us on a moving-forward basis.