HOUSE STATE GOVERNMENT, INDIAN AND VETERANS AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL 39
53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017
AN ACT
RELATING TO LIQUOR CONTROL; PROVIDING THAT A LIMITED NUMBER OF GOVERNMENTAL LICENSES MAY BE ISSUED TO A GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY FOR A QUALIFYING FACILITY; DEFINING "QUALIFYING FACILITY"; PROVIDING THAT EXISTING LICENSEES BE OFFERED THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEASE ANY GOVERNMENTAL LICENSES ISSUED FOR A QUALIFYING FACILITY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 60-6A-10 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 39, Section 27, as amended) is amended to read:
"60-6A-10. GOVERNMENTAL LICENSE.--
A. A governmental entity may sell alcoholic beverages directly or through its lessee at a governmental facility or at a qualifying facility if the governing body applies to the director for a governmental license. The director may issue to any one governmental entity no more than five governmental licenses for which the premises to be licensed is a qualifying facility and, before a governmental entity may be issued such a license, that entity shall contact each person who currently holds a license issued pursuant to the Liquor Control Act for a premises in the same local option district, if any, offer each person the opportunity to lease the governmental license upon its issuance and lease the governmental license to any such person who wishes to lease the license. The governmental entity and its lessee shall be subject to all state laws and regulations governing dispensers.
B. A governmental license may be leased to a qualified lessee and may only be used by the lessee for its operation during events authorized by the governmental entity at the governmental facility, or authorized by the governmental entity at the qualifying facility, designated on the governmental license. A governmental entity shall establish the lease fee paid by a governmental license lessee that will use the license at a qualifying facility. The governmental entity and its lessee shall not sell alcoholic beverages for consumption off the licensed premises. On the licensed premises of a municipal baseball park, the sale or service of alcoholic beverages in unbroken packages is allowed. Alcoholic beverages shall not be removed from the licensed premises of a municipal baseball park. A server as defined in Section 60-6E-3 NMSA 1978 is not required to be present in a skybox to serve alcoholic beverages to the person leasing the skybox or the person's guests.
C. A governmental entity holding a governmental license shall annually and not less than sixty days prior to the date for renewal of its license submit to the director documentary proof that its lessee is fully qualified to be a lessee of a governmental license. If the director finds that the lessee is qualified to lease a governmental license, the director shall renew the license for an additional period of one year. If the director determines that the proof is inadequate, the director shall notify the governing body of the decision and shall conduct a hearing as provided by law. If the director finds that the lessee does not qualify and the governmental entity does not change its lessee, the director shall revoke the license.
D. The provisions of Section 60-6A-18 NMSA 1978 shall not apply to governmental licenses.
E. For the purposes of this section:
(1) "governmental entity" means a municipality, a county, a state fair that is held for less than ten days per year, the state fair commission, a state museum, a state university or the spaceport authority;
(2) "governmental facility" means locations on property owned or operated by a governmental entity, including county fairs; state fairs held for less than ten days per year; convention centers; airports; civic centers; food service facilities in state museums; auditoriums; all facilities on the New Mexico state fairgrounds; facilities used for athletic competitions; golf courses, including golf courses required to be used for municipal purposes notwithstanding that there may be an existing club license at the same location operated by the same club licensee; other facilities used for cultural or artistic performances; and all spaceport authority facilities, but "governmental facility" does not include tennis facilities;
(3) "lessee" means an individual, corporation, partnership, firm or association that fulfills the requirements set forth in Subsections A through D of Section 60-6B-2 NMSA 1978;
(4) "municipal baseball park" means a governmental facility owned by a governmental entity in a class A county having a population of three hundred fifty thousand or more pursuant to the most recent federal decennial census that is the home stadium of an affiliate of a professional baseball team and that may be used throughout the year for baseball games and other events; [and]
(5) "qualifying facility" means only:
(a) with respect to a municipality with a population of less than twenty thousand persons based on the most recent federal decennial census, a place of business at which alcoholic beverages may be served and consumed in accordance with this section and other applicable laws; and
(b) with respect to a municipality with a population between twenty thousand and fifty thousand persons based on the most recent federal decennial census, a place of business at which alcoholic beverages may be served and consumed in accordance with this section and other applicable laws and that is located in an area designated as: 1) a metropolitan redevelopment area, pursuant to the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code; or 2) a main street project area, pursuant to the Main Street Act; and
[(5)] (6) "skybox" means a room or area of seating of a municipal baseball park, separated from the general seating and usually located in the upper decks of the park, leased to a person for that person's exclusive use during baseball games and at any other time throughout the year.
F. The provisions of Section 60-6B-10 NMSA 1978, with respect to golf courses owned by a governmental entity and civic centers owned and operated by a governmental entity, shall not apply to governmental licenses."
SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2017.
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