Alaska alcohol board weighs ending newspaper notice of liquor license applications

Applicants for a new Alaska liquor license or a license transfer would no longer have to publish notice in a newspaper or announce it on the radio, under a draft regulation the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board took up at its Sept. 1 meeting in Anchorage. Instead, applicants would post the application at two additional conspicuous locations near the proposed premises, instead of one.

The same draft repeals a requirement that a transferor keeping a security interest in a license include a set statement to that effect in the published notice of transfer. Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office staff say recorded Uniform Commercial Code financing statements already cover that need.

The draft also repeals the subsection letting a local governing body or village council ask for the announcement in the area's predominant languages. An AMCO memo disposes of it in seven words: "Subsection (b) is repealed and is a conforming change."

Under the current rule, an applicant posts the application for 10 days and publishes an announcement once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation, or twice a week for three weeks on a local radio station. The 10-day posting period would stay the same. A margin comment in the packet says state law caps it at 10 days.

The newspaper requirement comes from regulation, not statute. AS 04.11.310 leaves newspaper, radio and television notice to the board's discretion, and requires notice in more than one language only "when the board decides it is necessary." The village council request process has no counterpart in the statute.

The draft is one of five alcohol regulations written under Administrative Order 360, which Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed in August 2025 directing state agencies to cut regulatory requirements 15 percent by Dec. 31, 2026. The stated rationale is removing what the order calls complex and outdated requirements for newspaper advertising in a digital age.

The packet contains only the office's account and no outside comment. Board approval would send the draft to the Department of Law, with public comment opening only after that review. The board's next regular meeting is Nov. 17 in Anchorage.