Connecticut ID Scanner Affirmative Defense

4/16/20

March 2006 — New Regulation Concerning Photographic Identification of a Person Whose Age is in Question.  In Connecticut, there are three affirmative defenses available to counter the charge of sale of alcohol to minors: the use of a transaction scan device, the proper use of the age statement form, and since 2004, the photo identification defense.  So to claim a Connecticut ID Scanner Affirmative Defense, use a transaction scan device.

The Department of Consumer Protection was directed to present for consideration regulations relating to this photo identification defense.

The proposed regulations were designed to provide a liquor retailer, their agent or employee, with the ability to demonstrate a “good-faith” effort and demonstrate a level of reasonable diligence in their effort to accept a valid state driver’s license or identity card as proof of age for alcohol service.

(See Link at bottom for entire act)

Public Act No. 01-92
AN ACT CONCERNING THE USE OF TRANSACTION SCAN DEVICES BY
SELLERS OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUOR AND TOBACCO AND THE IMPORTATION OF
ALCOHOLIC LIQUOR.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly
convened:
Section 1. Section 30-86 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is
substituted in lieu thereof:
(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Cardholder” means any person who presents a driver’s license or an identity
card to a permittee or permittee’s agent or employee, to purchase or receive
alcoholic liquor from such permittee or permittee’s agent or employee;
(2) “Identity card” means an identification card issued in accordance with the
provisions of section 1-1h;
(3) “Transaction scan” means the process by which a permittee or permittee’s agent
or employee checks, by means of a transaction scan device, the validity of a driver’s
license or an identity card; and
(4) “Transaction scan device” means any commercial device or combination of
devices used at a point of sale that is capable of deciphering in an electronically
readable format the information encoded on the magnetic strip or bar code of a
driver’s license or an identity card.
(b) Any permittee or any servant or agent of a permittee who sells or delivers
alcoholic liquor to any minor, or to any intoxicated person, or to any habitual
drunkard, knowing the person to be such an habitual drunkard, shall be subject to
the penalties of section 30-113. Any person who sells, ships, delivers or gives any
such liquors to such minor, by any means, including, but not limited to, the Internet
or any other on-line computer network, except on the order of a practicing physician,
shall be fined not more than one thousand five hundred dollars or imprisoned not
more than eighteen months, or both. The provisions of this section shall not apply
(1) to a sale, shipment or delivery made to a person over age eighteen who is an
employee or permit holder under section 30-90a and where such sale, shipment or
delivery is made in the course of such person’s employment or business, (2) to a
sale, shipment or delivery made in good faith to a minor who practices any deceit in
the procurement of an identity card issued in accordance with the provisions of
section 1-1h, who uses or exhibits any such identity card belonging to any other
person or who uses or exhibits any such identity card that has been altered or
tampered with in any way, or (3) to a shipment or delivery made to a minor by a
parent, guardian or spouse of the minor, provided such parent, guardian or spouse
has attained the age of twenty-one and provided such minor possesses such
alcoholic liquor while accompanied by such parent, guardian or spouse.
(c) (1) A permittee or permittee’s agent or employee may perform a transaction scan
to check the validity of a driver’s license or identity card presented by a cardholder
as a condition for selling, giving away or otherwise distributing alcoholic liquor to the
cardholder.
(2) If the information deciphered by the transaction scan performed under
subdivision (1) of this subsection fails to match the information printed on the
driver’s license or identity card presented by the cardholder, or if the transaction
scan indicates that the information so printed is false or fraudulent, neither the
permittee nor any permittee’s agent or employee shall sell, give away or otherwise
distribute any alcoholic liquor to the cardholder.
(3) Subdivision (1) of this subsection does not preclude a permittee or permittee’s
agent or employee from using a transaction scan device to check the validity of a
document presented as identification other than a driver’s license or an identity card,
if the document includes a bar code or magnetic strip that may be scanned by the
device, as a condition for selling, giving away or otherwise distributing alcoholic
liquor to the person presenting the document.
(d) (1) No permittee or permittee’s agent or employee shall electronically or
mechanically record or maintain any information derived from a transaction scan,
except the following: (A) The name and date of birth of the person listed on the
driver’s license or identity card presented by a cardholder; (B) the expiration date
and identification number of the driver’s license or identity card presented by a
cardholder.
(2) No permittee or permittee’s agent or employee shall use a transaction scan
device for a purpose other than the purposes specified in subsection (c) of this
section or subsection (d) of section 53-344, as amended by this act.
(3) No permittee or permittee’s agent or employee shall sell or otherwise
disseminate the information derived from a transaction scan to any third party for
any purpose, including, but not limited to, any marketing, advertising or promotional
activities, except that a permittee or permittee’s agent or employee may release that
information pursuant to a court order.
(4) Nothing in subsection (c) of this section or this subsection relieves a permittee or
permittee’s agent or employee of any responsibility to comply with any other
applicable state or federal laws or rules governing the sale, giving away or other
distribution of alcoholic liquor.
(5) Any person who violates this subsection shall be subject to a civil penalty of not
more than one thousand dollars.
(e) (1) In any prosecution of a permittee or permittee’s agent or employee for selling
alcoholic liquor to a minor in violation of subsection (b) of this section, it shall be an
affirmative defense that all of the following occurred: (A) A cardholder attempting to
purchase or receive alcoholic liquor presented a driver’s license or an identity card;
(B) a transaction scan of the driver’s license or identity card that the cardholder
presented indicated that the license or card was valid; and (C) the alcoholic liquor
was sold, given away or otherwise distributed to the cardholder in reasonable
reliance upon the identification presented and the completed transaction scan.
(2) In determining whether a permittee or permittee’s agent or employee has proven
the affirmative defense provided by subdivision (1) of this subsection, the trier of
fact in such prosecution shall consider that reasonable reliance upon the
identification presented and the completed transaction scan may require a permittee
or permittee’s agent or employee to exercise reasonable diligence and that the use
of a transaction scan device does not excuse a permittee or permittee’s agent or
employee from exercising such reasonable diligence to determine the following: (A)
Whether a person to whom the permittee or permittee’s agent or employee sells,
gives away or otherwise distributes alcoholic liquor is twenty-one years of age or
older; and (B) whether the description and picture appearing on the driver’s license
or identity card presented by a cardholder is that of the cardholder.
Sec. 3. Subsection (a) of section 30-77 of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof:
(a) Any person who, without a permit therefor, except as provided in section 30-37
or subsection (b) of section 12-436, the provisions of which shall not be construed as
requiring an individual to be physically present at the point of purchase of alcoholic
beverages to import such alcoholic beverages, or contrary to the provisions of this
chapter and the regulations of the Department of Consumer Protection with respect
to the class of permit held by [him] such person, manufactures or, by sample, by
soliciting or procuring orders, or otherwise, sells or delivers, or offers or exposes for
sale or delivery, or owns or keeps with intent to sell or deliver, or who ships,
transports or imports into this state, any alcoholic liquor, shall be subject to the
penalties prescribed in section 30-113; provided nothing in this section shall prohibit
any common carrier, warehouseman or other lien holder, or any officer acting under
legal process, or any insurance company that acquires the same as the result of fire,
flood or water damage, from exercising [his or its] the right of such person or such
entity to sell alcoholic liquor under a lien or such process or such acquisition, with
the permission of the department. The provisions of this section shall not apply to
the delivery to a permittee under this chapter of alcoholic liquor which is legally
authorized. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the shipment into this
state of ethyl alcohol intended for use or used for scientific, mechanical and industrial
uses, for use in hospitals and public institutions, for medicinal purposes in the
manufacture of patented, proprietary, medicinal, pharmaceutical, antiseptic, toilet,
scientific, chemical, mechanical and industrial preparations or products not sold as a
beverage for human consumption, nor to the shipment of wine to be used in the
manufacture of patented, proprietary or pharmaceutical preparations or products or
in the manufacture of fruit preserves. No such shipment shall be made except with
the approval of the department and only in such manner as the department
prescribes. The department shall notify the Commissioner of Revenue Services of the
approval of any such shipment.
Approved June 6, 2001 Effective October 1, 2001

The act can be found at https://www.cga.ct.gov/2001/act/Pa/2001PA-00092-R00HB-05585-PA.htm

Should the link not be active, a hard copy can be of the current act (4/20/2020) can also be uploaded HERE.

Return to Summary of States with ID Scanner Affirmative Defense for serving a minor