District of Columbia § 25-783 Production of valid identification document required; penalty.

District of Columbia Statutes

§ 25-783 — Production of valid identification document required; penalty.

District of Columbia § 25-783

Title 25Alcoholic Beverages. [Enacted title]

Ch. 7Standards of Operation.

Subch. IXMinors and Intoxicated Persons.

This text of District of Columbia § 25-783 (Production of valid identification document required; penalty.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

D.C. Code § 25-783 (2026).

Text

(a)A licensee shall refuse to sell, serve, or deliver an alcoholic beverage to any person who, upon request of the licensee, fails to produce a valid identification document.

(b)A licensee or his agent or employee shall take steps reasonably necessary to ascertain whether any person to whom the licensee sells, delivers, or serves an alcoholic beverage is of legal drinking age. Any person who supplies a valid identification document showing his or her age to be the legal drinking age shall be deemed to be of legal drinking age.

(c)A violation of subsection (a) or (b) of this section shall be punishable as a primary tier violation.

(1)In determining whether a licensee has prior violations for the purposes of subsection (c) of this section, the 4-year period is the 4 years immediatel

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

(a) A licensee shall refuse to sell, serve, or deliver an alcoholic beverage to any person who, upon request of the licensee, fails to produce a valid identification document.

(b) A licensee or his agent or employee shall take steps reasonably necessary to ascertain whether any person to whom the licensee sells, delivers, or serves an alcoholic beverage is of legal drinking age. Any person who supplies a valid identification document showing his or her age to be the legal drinking age shall be deemed to be of legal drinking age.

(c) A violation of subsection (a) or (b) of this section shall be punishable as a primary tier violation.

(1) In determining whether a licensee has prior violations for the purposes of subsection (c) of this section, the 4-year period is the 4 years immediately preceding the date of the incident or conduct in the case pending before the Board for which the licensee has been found liable of violating subsection (a) or (b) of this section, either by an order of the Board, the Board's acceptance of an offer-in-compromise, of the licensee's payment of a fine.

(2) A prior violation falls within the 4-year period if the date that the licensee was found liable of violating subsection (a) or (b) of this section, either by an order of the Board, the Board's acceptance of an offer-in-compromise, or the licensee's payment of a fine, falls within the 4-year period.

(3) For the purposes of this subsection, the term "offer-in-compromise" means a negotiation between the government and the respondent to settle the charges brought by the government for those violations committed by the respondent.

(d) The provisions of this section notwithstanding, no licensee shall discriminate on any basis prohibited by Unit A of Chapter 14 of Title 2 .

(e) It shall be an affirmative defense to a violation of subsection (a) of this section that:

(1) The person was at the time of the violation 21 years of age or older; or

(2) The licensee or a licensee's employee was shown and inspected a fake or fraudulent identification document of such quality that a reasonable person would, in accordance with § 25-781(h) , believe that it was valid.

Legislative History

Jan. 24, 1934, 48 Stat. 331, ch. 4, § 20; Aug. 27, 1935, 49 Stat. 901, ch. 756, § 10; June 29, 1953, 67 Stat. 104, ch. 159, § 404(g); Sept. 29, 1982, D.C. Law 4-157, § 12, 29 DCR 3617; Sept. 26, 1984, D.C. Law 5-106, § 2, 31 DCR 3381; Feb. 24, 1987, D.C. Law 6-178, § 2(a), 33 DCR 7654; Mar. 7, 1987, D.C. Law 6-217, § 12, 34 DCR 907; Sept. 11, 1993, D.C. Law 10-12,§ 2(c), 40 DCR 4020; May 24, 1994, D.C. Law 10-122, § 2(i), 41 DCR 1658; May 3, 2001, D.C. Law 13-298, § 101, 48 DCR 2959; May 1, 2013, D.C. Law 19-310, § 2(cc), 60 DCR 3410; May 2, 2015, D.C. Law 20-270, § 2(e)(9), 62 DCR 1866; Mar. 9, 2016, D.C. Law 21-84, § 2(e)(6), 63 DCR 781