PRINTER'S NO. 2456
No. 1881 Session of 2003
INTRODUCED BY McILHINNEY, HARRIS, HORSEY, McGEEHAN, O'NEILL,
PETRI AND RUBLEY, JULY 17, 2003
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LIQUOR CONTROL, JULY 17, 2003
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 definitions and for when sales may be
18 made at Pennsylvania Liquor Stores.
19 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
20 hereby enacts as follows:
21 Section 1. Section 102 of the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90,
22 No.21), known as the Liquor Code, reenacted and amended June 29,
23 1987 (P.L.32, No.14), is amended by adding a definition to read:
24 Section 102. Definitions.--The following words or phrases,
25 unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, shall have the
1 meanings ascribed to them in this section:
2 * * *
3 "Holiday" shall mean the first day of January, commonly known
4 as New Year's Day; the third Monday of January, known as Dr.
5 Martin Luther King Jr. Day; the third Monday in February, known
6 as Presidents' Day; the last Monday in May known as Memorial
7 Day; the fourth day of July, known as Independence Day; the
8 first Monday of September, known as Labor Day; the fourth
9 Thursday in November, known as Thanksgiving Day; and the twenty-
10 fifth day of December, known as Christmas Day.
11 * * *
12 Section 2. Section 304 of the act, amended December 9, 2002
13 (P.L.1653, No.212), is amended to read:
14 Section 304. When Sales May Be Made at Pennsylvania Liquor
15 Stores.-- (a) Except as provided for in subsection (b), every
16 Pennsylvania Liquor Store shall be open for business week days,
17 except [legal] holidays [or any day on which a general,
18 municipal, special or primary election is being held, during
19 such hours as the board, in its discretion, shall determine:
20 Provided, That the Pennsylvania Liquor Stores in the case of a
21 special election for members of the General Assembly or members
22 of the Congress of the United States, when such special election
23 is held on other than a primary, municipal or general election
24 day, shall be open in those Legislative or Congressional
25 Districts as though the day were not a special election day. The
26 board may, with the approval of the Governor, temporarily close
27 any store in any municipality.] as that term is defined in
28 section 102.
29 (b) Certain Pennsylvania Liquor Stores operated by the board
30 shall be open for Sunday retail sales between the hours of noon
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1 and five o'clock postmeridian, except that no Sunday sales shall
2 occur on Easter Sunday or Christmas day. For a two-year time
3 period following the effective date of this subsection, the
4 board shall open up to ten per centum of the total number of
5 Pennsylvania Liquor Stores at its discretion for Sunday sales as
6 provided for in this subsection. At the expiration of the two-
7 year time period, the board shall conduct a review and determine
8 whether the stores shall be closed or whether additional stores
9 shall be opened for these Sunday sales. The board shall submit
10 yearly reports to the Appropriations and the Law and Justice
11 Committees of the Senate and the Appropriations and the Liquor
12 Control Committees of the House of Representatives summarizing
13 the total dollar value of sales under this section.
14 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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