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SPONSOR: |
Park |
DATE TYPED: |
|
HB |
841/ aHGUAC |
||
SHORT TITLE: |
Location of Liquor Licenses |
SB |
|
||||
|
ANALYST: |
Maloy |
|||||
REVENUE
Estimated Revenue |
Subsequent Years Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
|
FY03 |
FY04 |
|
|
|
|
(Unknown) See
Narrative |
|
Recurring
|
General
Fund |
Duplicates SB 643.
Responses
Received From
Alcohol
and Gaming Division of Regulation and Licensing Department
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of HGUAC Amendment
The House Government and Urban Affairs Committee amended House Bill 841 to eliminate language that would deny the issuance of a license for the sale of alcohol at premises located within 300 feet of a “place where children congregate in a group an average of four days or more per week.”
This amendment is in response to concerns raised
regarding the scope of the language. For
instance, this language could have resulted in the denial of a liquor license
to a restaurant in a shopping center, or near an apartment complex that
included a playground.
Synopsis
of Original Bill
House Bill 841 enacts a new subsection to Section 60-6B-10 of the Liquor
Control Act, prohibiting the alcohol and gaming director from issuing liquor
licenses to a proposed liquor establishment that would be within three hundred
feet of certain facilities.
Significant Issues
The bill prohibits the director from issuing a liquor license at locations where alcoholic beverages were not sold prior to May 1, 2003 that are within three hundred feet of a:
·
day care
center;
·
pre-school;
·
playground;
·
park;
·
facilities
housing a head start program; or
·
any other
place where five or more children congregate in a group on an average of four
days or more per week.
The bill does not expressly define these facilities.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Enactment of HB 841 may result in the issuance of fewer liquor
licenses. This would result in a
recurring loss of revenue to the general fund.
The amount of this loss is not estimated by the Alcohol and Gaming
Division.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE
ISSUES
The Alcohol and Gaming Division provides the following information:
·
For approximately 20 years, the Alcohol
and Gaming Division encountered difficulty in the definition of a school
because the Liquor Control Act prohibits the issuance of a liquor license for
locations that are within three hundred feet of any church or school. Until, by regulation, school was defined,
this was a problematic area.
·
The bill would prohibit the director from
issuing a liquor license for “any other place where five or more children
congregate in a group on an average of four days or more per week”. Because
“children” is not defined, it is unclear what places are included and
could be interpreted differently by the various local governing bodies and any
person wanting to protest the issuance or transfer of a liquor license. Places where five or more children congregate
could include fast food stores such as McDonald’s Burger King, and shopping
centers, school bus stops, bus stops for public transportation, video stores
and apartment complexes that have playgrounds.
Additionally, the bill does not specify whether there is a limitation on
the amount of time where five or more children congregate.
· Currently, there are grocery and convenience stores that have liquor licenses. Under the proposed language in the bill, when a grocery store or convenience store opens and want to sell alcoholic beverages, they would effectively be prohibited from obtaining a liquor license. A restaurant that wants to be located in a shopping center would also be prohibited from obtaining a liquor license because children are at shopping centers on a daily basis.
·
A home daycare center could exist and a
proposed owner of a liquor license would not know of its existence in the
neighborhood.
·
A license may continue to be granted for a proposed licensed premises if a person has obtained a
waiver from the local governing body.
However, the City of
·
The bill leaves decisions to the local
governing body that may be arbitrary and capricious when they deny the issuance
or transfer of a liquor license based upon their, or protestors’, observations
regarding which locations fall within “any other place where five or more
children congregate”.
·
This bill would have a significant
negative effect on the economic development of the State of
SJM/sb:yr