Compliance Guides

ID scanning laws, state by state and industry by industry

Plain-English breakdowns of the statutes that govern electronic ID verification — what's required, what's optional, and what actually protects a business that checks IDs in good faith.

These are educational guides, not legal advice. Each one summarizes the statutes or rules as we read them and cites the sections directly so you can verify them yourself. Laws, agency rules, and enforcement guidance change over time — confirm your current obligations with your state's alcohol or health agency, the FDA, or your own attorney before relying on any of these pages for a compliance decision.

By state

What each state's statutes actually require for electronic ID verification, and what they don't.

Utah bar ID scanning law

Utah Code 32B-1-407 requires bars, taverns, off-premise beer retailers, and certain restaurants to electronically verify proof of age — what changed for 2026 and the 7-day retention cap.

Texas bar ID scanning law

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code §109.61 gives sellers who scan an ID in good faith a real affirmative defense — and SB 650 makes scanning mandatory for off-premise retailers.

Texas SB 650 for convenience stores

The 2025 electronic age-verification mandate for off-premise alcohol sales — which permits, the September 2027 enforcement date, and the manual-entry alternative the statute allows.

Alabama alcohol & vape ID laws

ABC Board ID requirements, the Responsible Vendor Program, and Act 2025-403's electronic ID-scanning mandate for vape shops, in one place.

California ID scanning law

A scan is evidence, not a defense — and Civil Code 1798.90.1 makes misusing what you scanned a misdemeanour. Plus the RBS 60-day clock.

New York ID scanning law

ABC § 65-b makes a completed scan an affirmative defense — and says in the same breath that it applies in no other forum.

Ohio ID scanning law

ORC 4301.611 makes a completed transaction scan an affirmative defense — and 4301.61 caps what you may keep from it, and forbids ever using it for marketing.

Tennessee alcohol ID laws

Tennessee has no affirmative-defense statute for electronic scanners. What the code actually requires, and the real break diligent vendors get.

New Hampshire ID scanning rules

RSA 263:12 and RSA 179:8 explained: what you can scan, what's a misdemeanor to electronically retain, and why.

By business type

Age-verification rules organized by the kind of venue enforcing them, across federal law and multiple states.

REAL ID and federal requirements

Where REAL ID compliance is required, what a scanner can honestly tell you about it, and the one industry that has to check it with no TSA checkpoint in the room.

Get your venue ready

Check ID reads barcodes and mobile driver's licenses, logs every check, and gives your team compliance reports built for exactly this kind of question.