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S3000BAlcohol

Alcoholic Beverages - Retail Licenses

Bars and restaurants must provide a lid for a customer's alcoholic drink upon request, optionally charging a small fee.

Introduced37 Yea1 Nay0 Not voting
Population
Affected
35
Email Legislator
Introduced Mar 4, 2026Committee Senate Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs

Plain-English Summary

This bill requires businesses that sell alcoholic drinks to be consumed on their premises to provide a lid for a customer's drink if requested. The business only needs to have lids that fit at least one type of glass or cup they use, not every size. Businesses are allowed to charge a small fee for the lid based on its wholesale cost, or they can provide it for free. If a business fails to follow this rule, their first violation will only result in a warning from the department.

For younger readers

This bill says that places selling alcoholic drinks to adults, like restaurants, must give a customer a lid for their drink if they ask for one. The restaurant doesn't need to have lids for every single cup size, just at least one. The restaurant can ask the customer to pay a little extra money for the lid, or they can give it away for free. If a restaurant forgets to do this, they will just get a warning the first time it happens.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Bar and restaurant ownersPatrons of bars and restaurantsBartenders and serversAlcohol licensing authoritiesRestaurant supply companies
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Promotes public safety and community welfare by providing patrons with a tool to protect their drinks from being tampered with or spiked, particularly benefiting vulnerable groups.
  • Allows the lids to be provided free of charge, which encourages businesses to prioritize customer safety over profit without mandating a financial burden on patrons.
  • Implements a lenient enforcement mechanism for first-time offenders (a warning), avoiding overly punitive or carceral responses while still encouraging compliance.
  • Permits businesses to charge a fee for the lids, which could disproportionately impact low-income individuals who may not be able to afford the extra cost for their safety.
  • Only requires the lid to fit one type of container on the premises, potentially leaving patrons unprotected if they order a drink served in a different style of glass.
  • Places the burden on the customer to request the lid, rather than mandating it as a standard safety practice, which may deter people from asking due to social stigma or lack of awareness.
For Conservatives
  • Protects corporate freedom by allowing businesses to charge customers a fee to recoup the wholesale cost of the lids, ensuring the mandate does not result in a financial loss for the establishment.
  • Limits government overreach by only requiring businesses to stock lids for at least one type of container, rather than forcing them to undergo the costly burden of sourcing lids for every glass size.
  • Features a light-handed regulatory approach by issuing only a warning for a first offense, protecting business owners from aggressive government penalization and fines.
  • Imposes a new government mandate on private businesses, forcing bars and restaurants to source, stock, and manage inventory for drink lids, thereby infringing on corporate freedom.
  • Creates an unnecessary regulatory burden by requiring the government to monitor compliance and issue warnings, expanding the size and scope of state bureaucracy.
  • Caps the fee a business can charge at the "wholesale cost," restricting free-market pricing and preventing business owners from making a profit on the lids they are forced to provide.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

3 versions
Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 12 additions

SECTION 1. Chapter 3-7 of the General Laws entitled "Retail Licenses" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 3-7-30. Licensed retailers to provide drink covers upon request.

(a) All holders of retail licenses authorized to sell intoxicating beverages to customers for the purpose of onsite consumption shall upon request, provide a lid with a customer’s drink. For purposes of this section, “lid” means a removable cover of any size that attaches to the rim of a corresponding beverage container. The lid is not required to fit all containers in which alcoholic beverages are served on the premises but shall fit at least one.

(b) The licensee may charge an additional fee for providing a lid with a customer’s drink, which shall not exceed a reasonable amount based on the wholesale cost of those lids.

(c) This section does not prevent a licensee from offering lids to their customers free of charge.

(d) A sole violation of this section shall result in a warning by the department for the first offense.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2027.