SOUTH PORTLAND – For its clients, Personal Touch Catering puts on a range of events, from wedding to office parties, at its banquet facility on Broadway in South Portland. Typically, food and drink are served.

But because of the way that Maine’s liquor laws are written, the business can’t hold any functions for itself at Events on Broadway if alcohol is involved. Although the catering company would like to open its facility to the public for such events as special Easter or Mother’s Day dinners where alcohol would be served, it currently is illegal for them to do so.

“According to the state liquor commission, we cannot run a function for ourselves in our own facility,” said Kevin Fallen, chef and owner of Personal Touch.

Now, however, a new bill before the Maine Legislature would change state law to benefit catering companies like Personal Touch. The purpose of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Lawrence Bliss, a South Portland Democrat, would be to allow qualified caterers to offer events at their own function halls at which alcoholic beverages could be consumed on the premises.

Bliss said that the bill, if approved, “would make it crystal clear that caterers with their own facilities can do this.”

Richard Grotton, president of the Maine Restaurant Association, which is based in Augusta, said his group believes that it is implicit in existing law that qualified caterers have the right to host events serving liquor in their own event facilities.

However, Grotton and Bliss say, the state has a different interpretation of the law. Bliss said the state says that caterers can only host such events in conjunction with a nonprofit sponsor.

The bill Bliss is now proposing would clarify the language so there is no longer any question on the issue.

Grotton said that it would allow qualified caterers to “hold a murder mystery night or a Halloween function and they could do that without going out to find a nonprofit sponsor.”

A public hearing on the bill, LD 1559, is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 11, before the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Legal and Veterans Affairs. The hearing will take place in Room 437 of the State House in Augusta.

The restaurant association has about 800 members, including some caterers. Grotton said he is not sure how many caterers in Maine would be impacted by the change in the law, but he hopes they will attend the public hearing.

Bliss doesn’t believe a lot of caterers have their own function halls. However, he said that in addition to Personal Touch, he knows of at least three others around the state in cities such as Lewiston and Bangor that would benefit from the revision in the law.

He said that he decided to introduce the bill after Fallen approached him with his concerns. Fallen’s Personal Touch Catering was established in 1981 and is one of Maine’s oldest and largest catering businesses. It has been based in Buxton, but in 2009 also acquired the function hall at 729 Broadway in South Portland as a second home.

“The restaurant association is supportive,” Bliss said. “I think it will be an easy bill to pass.”

Grotton said the language of the bill has undergone some changes. He expects final language to be adopted by the legislative committee.

That latest draft says that, upon payment of a $700 annual fee, a licensed qualified caterer may obtain an annual permit authorizing the caterer to hold up to 50 self-sponsored events or gatherings per year.

The events, which may be open to the public and held on the licensee’s premises, would be subject to other requirements. For example, the events couldn’t be held on more than two days per week. And they would have to include full-course meals until 9 p.m. In order to serve liquor after that time, food would still have to be available.

The new legislative session began Wednesday, Jan. 6. It is known as a “short session” because it is the second session of the 124th Legislature. The session is expected to finish by early or mid- April.

Typically, the only bills introduced in short sessions are ones of an emergency nature, Bliss said. Unless they are enacted as emergencies, most bills do not become effective until 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.

Bliss believes the bill regarding caterers such as Personal Touch qualifies for emergency enactment, especially in this economic recession. The bill, Bliss said, “has a direct impact on the ability of a constituent to grow his business.”

Co-sponsors of the bill include state Reps. Jane Eberle and Terry Morrison, both South Portland Democrats.

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