So this Thursday, Oct. 1 is the ostensible deadline for the County of Maui to get its act together in regards to Act 136, the new state law that requires county Liquor Commissions to define dancing (since they’re so insistent on enforcing dancing restrictions).
“No later than October 1, 2015, each county liquor commission that regulates dancing shall adopt or amend rules regarding dancing in premises licensed to sell liquor for consumption thereon,” states the text of Act 136. “The rules of each county liquor commission that regulate dancing shall include a definition of the term ‘dancing.’”
Three state senators (including Maui’s own J. Kalani English) introduced the original bill (SB 868) as a result of lobbying and agitating from the group Maui Dance Advocates, which spent many unsuccessful years trying to convince the Maui County Liquor Commission that if they were going to regulate where clubs and restaurants could have dancing, then they could at least define the word “dancing” in the statutes.
But (or, of course, depending on your view of the LC), the Commission’s Sept. 9 meeting came and went with no decision on Act 136 compliance, which means they’ll have to take it up at their next meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 7–six days after the state deadline. And sure enough, the agenda for the meeting (click here to read it) contains the following 10am public hearing:
Proposed amendment to the Rules of the Liquor Commission, County of Maui, Section 08- 101-5 Definitions, relating to the establishment of a definition of dancing.
“Are we Footloose for six days?” Maui Dance Advocates member Jiva Jive (fka Anthony Simmons) emailed me on Sept. 24, referring to the time between Oct. 1 and the Oct. 7 hearing. “I have no idea what they are going to decide.”
He may not know what the LC will do on Oct. 7, but that won’t stop him from holding a “Freedom Dance” on Saturday, Oct. 3 at Makawao Union Church from 7:30pm to 11pm.
Here are the details on the upcoming Liquor Commission hearing on dancing rules:
Wednesday, Oct. 7
10am
Department of Liquor Control Conference Room
David K. Trask, Jr. Office Building
2145 Kaohu St., #108, Wailuku
Photo: BritneyandHenryblog.com/Mauitime
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