![]() The bill does not limit the 21 minimum age for bouncers to those who work in bars as defined by the 75 percent rule. “They’re going to have to think twice before they fudge a report because it’s now at the state level, so the repercussions to the business owner will be much greater,” said Gatto, interviewed separately. ![]() ![]() The department, Duncan said, will be able to look at monthly sales tax reports, which already classify food and drink revenues separately. By putting the 75 percent rule in state law, the Gattos and Duncan hope to give the Department of Revenue power over a distinct line between restaurants and bars. These are either “sports restaurants,” required only to have a food permit, or ordinary restaurants, required to derive more than 50 percent of their revenue from food sales - but with this reported to the city through an unaudited process. Under the city’s alcohol ordinance, Statesboro officially has no bars, only restaurants that serve alcohol. Bars, defined As passed by the House, the new legislation would make 21 the minimum age to enter a bar, but it would also define a bar as a place that derives 75 percent or more of its revenue from alcoholic beverages. It does not specify a penalty for cities and counties. ![]() The new bill would allow the revenue commissioner to impose fines of up to $750 for license holders that fail to report violations. “I think the Department of Revenue told us that there are only three cities and counties out of 600 or 700 that actually report.” So the bill also modernizes the language, requiring each local government to “adopt a policy and implement a process” for reporting, Duncan noted. “This law has been on the books for 30-plus years and nobody has really followed it,” Duncan said. Under current law, cities and counties are supposed to report violations to the department. It would also set a 45-day deadline for cities and counties to report any violations within their jurisdiction to the Department of Revenue. “We’re hopeful that it will pass the Senate, and then we still have a lot of work to do to get other things in the bill that we want next year.” Required reporting In addition to the new minimum age for bars and bouncers, 2015’s House Bill 152 would require alcohol license holders to self-report any violations of local, state or federal alcohol laws, rules or regulations to the Georgia Department of Revenue within 45 days. “We’re delighted that it’s gotten this far in this amount of time,” Michael S. The current bill will not make all the changes that Gatto’s parents, Michael and Kathy Lee Gatto, want to see in Georgia’s alcohol laws, but they were pleased that it passed the House with time left to become law this year. Rude Rudy’s closed after Gatto’s death, and the club’s owner surrendered his alcohol license to the city. Spencer, who was also a GSU student, remains in jail awaiting trial. Gatto had arrived as a freshman at Georgia Southern University about two weeks earlier. Police charged Grant James Spencer, then 20, a bouncer who was at the club but reportedly off-duty at the time, with aggravated battery and felony murder. Airlifted to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, he died that afternoon. 28, found Gatto unconscious, with injuries from an apparent beating. This is a Georgia problem.” Statesboro police and emergency medical personnel, called to Rude Rudy’s in University Plaza about 12:40 a.m. “We really dialed in on what the industry’s problems were. …,” Duncan said Thursday in a phone interview. “It has become a really, really good piece of legislation that I’m proud to have my name on, for certain. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, also supported the bill in Friday’s 157-12 House vote. Mike Dudgeon, R-John’s Creek, and a Statesboro-area legislator, Rep. Geoff Duncan, a Republican from Gatto’s hometown of Cumming, was the bill’s lead sponsor, followed by Rep. Prompted by the death of 18-year-old Michael Joseph Gatto last summer, the Georgia House of Representatives approved legislation Friday to define what bars are, make 21 the minimum age to enter one or work as a bouncer, and place new demands on cities, counties and businesses to report alcoholic beverage violations.
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