Suspension or Revocation of Liquor Licenses for Offensive Conduct

• Jurisdiction: Colorado,United States
• Citation: Vol. 29 No. 9 Pg. 77
• Pages: 77
• Publication year: 2000

29 Colo.Law. 77 Colorado Lawyer 2000.

2000, September, Pg. 77. Suspension or Revocation of Liquor Licenses for Offensive Conduct

---

77

Vol. 29, No. 9, Pg. 77

The Colorado Lawyer
September 2000
Vol. 29, No. 9 [Page 77]

Specialty Law Columns
Government and Administrative Law News
Suspension or Revocation of Liquor Licenses for Offensive Conduct
by Kurt G. Stiegelmeier

Under Colorado Liquor Regulation 47-900(A) ("Regulation"),1 liquor licensees and their employees and agents must conduct activities on the licensed premises in a decent, orderly, and respectable manner and must not permit certain offensive conduct. Violation of this Regulation is cause for suspension or revocation of the liquor license.2 Three elements must be proven to establish a violation of this Regulation: (1) offensive conduct occurred (2) the licensees or their employees or agents committed or permitted the act; and (3) the act was committed on the premises. This article discusses the legal basis, purpose and parameters of Regulation 47-900(A)

Legal Basis and Purpose

Article XXII of the Colorado Constitution was adopted in 1932,3 just before national Prohibition was repealed.4 Article XXII gives the state exclusive authority to regulate the manufacture, sale, and distribution of intoxicating liquors and to designate the agencies that will perform such regulation.5 The Colorado General Assembly exercised the power granted in Article XXII by enacting the Colorado Liquor Code ("Liquor Code").6 Under CRS § 12-47-202(1)(b), the Department of Revenue?s ("Department") State Liquor Licensing Authority is authorized to make rules and regulations regarding the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol beverages.7 Regulation 47-900 was adopted under this authority8 and has been in force since 1967 when it was codified as Rule 19B.9

Both Article XXII and CRS § 12-47-102(1) expressly prohibit the establishment or maintenance of saloons. The Article and statute do not contain a definition of "saloon," but it appears that the framers of the Article and the Colorado General Assembly did not approve of such places and wanted to prevent them from becoming re-established after Prohibition. The Colorado Supreme Court has held that the purpose of this language was to
". . . completely outlaw and eradicate the old-time saloon or barroom with its well known obnoxious characteristics, vices and effects. . . ."10

In Citizens for Free Enterprise v. Dept. of Revenue,11 the Department asserted that the purpose of Regulation 47-900 was to suppress crimes associated with liquor-licensed premises. These crimes included prostitution, assault, and the sale of narcotics. The plain language of the Regulation suggests that it is designed to prevent unlawful, disorderly, offensive, and indecent conduct on liquor-licensed premises. Thus, the Regulation effectuates the constitutional and legislative intent contained in Article XXII and CRS § 12-47-102(1) to prevent the maintenance and establishment of saloons and to protect the public?s health, safety, and welfare from the ill effects of such places.

At first glance, the suppression of saloons might seem like an archaic concept that modern law enforcement safely could consign to a museum of western history. However, a look at any newspaper shows that this is not so. While most establishments that have liquor licenses are lawful and upstanding, saloon-like establishments are still around and may be used for the sale of narcotics, prostitution, and other criminal purposes.

What the Regulation Prohibits

Regulation 47-900(A) prohibits a broad range of conduct at liquor-licensed establishments. Five types of conduct violate this Regulation: (1) conduct that is not decent, disorderly, or respectable; (2) serving intoxicated persons or habitual drunkards or the loitering of intoxicated persons or habitual drunkards; (3) profanity, rowdiness, or undue noise; (4) activities or disturbances that are offensive to the senses of the average citizen; and (5) activities or disturbances that are offensive to residents of the neighborhood in which the establishment is located.

The conduct does not have to violate a provision of the Liquor Code. If the Regulation applied only to Liquor Code violations, it would be redundant and...