Kentucky Seizes People's Booze, Auctions It Off To Fund Anti-Booze Group

The Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) launched its first online auction of confiscated alcohol on Wednesday. While selling vintage spirits is better than pouring them down the drain, the state shouldn’t use the proceeds to fund a private corporation.

The Kentucky ABC was granted the power to dispose of its inventory via public auction under House Bill 439, which Gov. Andy Beshear (D–Ky.) signed into law in April. All money raised by the public auction is donated to the Alcohol Wellness and Responsibility Education Fund, which provides “educational information and materials that deter or eliminate underage drinking” to Kentucky high schools, colleges, and universities. The fund also raises revenue by collecting one percent of the excise tax on malt beverages and one percent of the wholesale tax on malt beverages and microbreweries.

The fund is not directly administered by the Kentucky ABC, but by the Alcohol Wellness and Responsibility Education Corporation (AWARE), a state-sponsored nonprofit whose board of directors includes: the president of the senate, the speaker of the house, the secretary of the Public Protection Cabinet, and the commissioner of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (or their designees). AWARE receives private contributions, which must be matched with money from the fund.

The Kentucky ABC confiscates alcoholic beverages for violations described in Kentucky Revised Statutes 241-244. For example, licensed vendors may not sell or deliver malt beverages, distilled spirits, or wine between midnight and 6 a.m. or on Sunday, unless otherwise permitted by local ordinance. Another cause for seizure is the mere possession of liquor while driving through a dry county. Considering 39 of Kentucky’s 120 counties are dry, it is possible that some of the auction items that are in ABC custody unjustly (though legally) and should be returned to their original owners.

Regardless of how the ABC comes to stock its inventory of confiscated liquor, the Alcohol Wellness and Responsibility Education Fund and Corporation are redundant and costly. The ABC spent just shy of $8 million for fiscal year 2024; Kentuckians don’t need more resources allocated toward duplicative state-funded programs.

Even if the corporation’s educational activities are so vital as to justify state support, the auction, which limits items to in-person pick-up in Frankfort, Kentucky is inefficient. Refusal to ship reduces the number of interested buyers to those who are willing to drive to Frankfort, meaning fewer bids, lower auction prices, and less revenue for AWARE.

The responsibility to educate young people about the dangers of excessive drinking rests squarely with the parents and civil society, not the state and state-sponsored nonprofits. Instead of passing laws to permit the auctioning of confiscated liquor, Kentucky legislators should dissolve the Alcohol Wellness and Responsibility Education Fund and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

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