The Urbana City Council approved a $30 fee for BASSET training at its Dec 14 meeting.
BASSET, or Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training, is the state's program for educating people who sell or serve alcohol. The program trains bartenders, servers and cashiers to read IDs, identify the signs of drunkenness, and prevent potentially dangerous situations like drunk driving.
The training used to be optional, but is being phased in as required training on a county-by-county basis, beginning with the most populated areas. All Champaign County alcohol servers will be required to hold a BASSET certification by July 1, 2016. The mandate will be statewide by July 1, 2018.