PRINTER'S NO. 286
No. 289 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY ROEBUCK, PESCI, PRESTON, HARHAI AND YOUNGBLOOD, FEBRUARY 2, 1999
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LIQUOR CONTROL, FEBRUARY 2, 1999
AN ACT 1 Amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), entitled, as 2 reenacted, "An act relating to alcoholic liquors, alcohol and 3 malt and brewed beverages; amending, revising, consolidating 4 and changing the laws relating thereto; regulating and 5 restricting the manufacture, purchase, sale, possession, 6 consumption, importation, transportation, furnishing, holding 7 in bond, holding in storage, traffic in and use of alcoholic 8 liquors, alcohol and malt and brewed beverages and the 9 persons engaged or employed therein; defining the powers and 10 duties of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board; providing 11 for the establishment and operation of State liquor stores, 12 for the payment of certain license fees to the respective 13 municipalities and townships, for the abatement of certain 14 nuisances and, in certain cases, for search and seizure 15 without warrant; prescribing penalties and forfeitures; 16 providing for local option, and repealing existing laws," 17 further providing for the transfer of licenses. 18 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 19 hereby enacts as follows: 20 Section 1. Section 468(a) of the act of April 12, 1951 21 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, reenacted and amended 22 June 29, 1987 (P.L.32, No.14) and amended June 18, 1998 23 (P.L.664, No.86) and December 21, 1998 (P.L. , No.155), is 24 amended to read: 25 Section 468. Licenses Not Assignable; Transfers.--(a) (1)
1 Licenses issued under this article may not be assigned. The 2 board, upon payment of the transfer filing fee, is hereby 3 authorized to transfer any license issued by it under the 4 provisions of this article from one person to another or from 5 one place to another, or both, within the same municipality, and 6 if the applicant is a unit of a nonprofit nationally chartered 7 club, the board is hereby authorized to transfer such license to 8 a place in any other municipality [within the same county] if 9 the sale of liquor or malt and brewed beverages are legal in 10 such other municipality as the board may determine. Prior to the 11 approval of an application for transfer by a unit of a nonprofit 12 nationally chartered club the board shall make an affirmative 13 finding, upon proof submitted by the applicant, and after 14 investigation by the board, that at the time the application for 15 transfer is made the club continues to hold a valid national 16 charter and continues to function in fact as a club as defined 17 in section 102. The board, in its discretion, may transfer an 18 existing restaurant retail dispenser or club license from one 19 municipality to another [in the same county] regardless of the 20 quota limitations provided for in this act, if sales of liquor 21 or malt and brewed beverages are legal in such other 22 municipality and if the restaurant retail dispenser or club lost 23 the use of the building in which it was located due to 24 governmental exercise of the right of eminent domain and no 25 other suitable building can be found in the first municipality. 26 (2) (i) The board, in its discretion, may transfer an 27 existing restaurant liquor license or a retail dispenser license 28 from one municipality to another municipality [of the same 29 county or in a contiguous county] regardless of the quota 30 limitations provided for in this act, if: 19990H0289B0286 - 2 -
1 (A) sales of liquor or malt and brewed beverages are legal 2 in such other municipality; 3 (B) the location [in the same county or a contiguous county] 4 is an indoor bowling center; and 5 (C) the restaurant liquor license or a retail dispenser 6 license is currently located in an area which has been 7 designated as blighted. 8 (ii) for purposes of this subsection, a property shall be 9 determined to be blighted if it is any of the following: 10 (A) real property within or outside a certified 11 redevelopment area determined to be blighted property under the 12 act of May 24, 1945 (P.L.991, No.385), known as the "Urban 13 Redevelopment Law"; 14 (B) any property declared to be blighted by a Pennsylvania 15 local government or its agency; or 16 (C) any property which is located within a redevelopment 17 area, when one of the stated purposes of designation as a 18 redevelopment area is to remove blight, designated by a local 19 government or its agencies under the "Urban Redevelopment Law." 20 (iii) A restaurant liquor license or a retail dispenser 21 license which is transferred to an indoor bowling center may not 22 be transferred again for five years unless that transfer is in 23 conjunction with the sale of the bowling business. In the case 24 of distributor and importing distributor licenses, the board may 25 transfer any such license from its place in a municipality to a 26 place in any other municipality [within the same county], or 27 from one place to another place within the same municipality, or 28 exchange a distributor license for an importing distributor 29 license or an importing distributor license for a distributor 30 license, if the building for which the license is to be issued 19990H0289B0286 - 3 -
1 has, in the case of an importing distributor license, an area 2 under one roof of two thousand five hundred square feet and, in 3 the case of a distributor license, an area under one roof of one 4 thousand square feet: And provided, That, in the case of all 5 transfers of distributor or importing distributor licenses, 6 whether from a place within the same municipality to another 7 place within the same municipality or from a place in a 8 municipality to a place in any other municipality [within the 9 same county], and, in the case of an exchange of a distributor 10 license for an importing distributor license or an importing 11 distributor license for a distributor license, the premises to 12 be affected by the transfer or exchange shall contain an office 13 separate and apart from the remainder of the premises to be 14 licensed for the purpose of keeping records, required by the 15 board, adequate toilet facilities for employes of the licensee 16 and an entrance on a public thoroughfare: Provided, however, 17 That in the event that the majority of the voting electors of a 18 municipality, at an election held under the provisions of any 19 law so empowering them to do, shall vote against the issuance of 20 distributor or importing distributor licenses in such 21 municipality, the board is hereby authorized to transfer any 22 such distributor or importing distributor license from its place 23 in such municipality to a place in any other municipality 24 [within the same county], upon application prior to the 25 expiration of any such license and upon payment of the transfer 26 filing fee and the execution of a new bond; but no transfer 27 shall be made to a person who would not have been eligible to 28 receive the license originally nor for the transaction of 29 business at a place for which the license could not lawfully 30 have been issued originally, nor, except as herein provided, to 19990H0289B0286 - 4 -
1 a place as to which a license has been revoked. 2 (3) No license shall be transferred to any place or property 3 upon which is located as a business the sale of liquid fuels and 4 oil. Except in cases of emergency such as death, serious 5 illness, or circumstances beyond the control of the licensee, as 6 the board may determine such circumstances to justify its 7 action, transfers of licenses may be made only at times fixed by 8 the board. In the case of the death of a licensee, the board may 9 transfer the license to the surviving spouse or personal 10 representative or to a person designated by him. From any 11 refusal to grant a transfer or upon the grant of any transfer, 12 the party aggrieved shall have the right of appeal to the proper 13 court in the manner hereinbefore provided. 14 * * * 15 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days. L23L47DMS/19990H0289B0286 - 5 -