44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

REQUESTING THE REGULATION AND LICENSING DEPARTMENT TO ADOPT A PLAN TO ABOLISH THE LEASING OF LIQUOR LICENSES.

WHEREAS, the Liquor Control Act was enacted in 1981 and attempted to make significant changes in the liquor regulation policy of the state, including reaffirming that a liquor licensee had no property right in its liquor license; and

WHEREAS, Senate Bill 225, enacted as Laws 1981, Chapter 39, allowed a ten-year period in which liquor licenses obtained prior to the effective date of that act could be transferred outside of the licensee's local option district or a tax credit could be claimed by the licensee against taxes owed to the state by the licensee of up to thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) per year, a provision found to be unconstitutional in Chronis v. Rodriguez; and

WHEREAS, the leasing of liquor licenses is a practice that results from the concept that, as among private individuals, there is a certain amount of value vested in a liquor license and was incorporated into the language of the law in 1991 when the legislature changed the law to accommodate the interests of certain liquor licensees; and

WHEREAS, the policy of the state should not permit leasing or subleasing of a liquor license because the public loses its ability to protest or review a lessee to determine the character and fitness of that person to operate a license; and

WHEREAS, no notice is required to be posted and no hearing is required to allow public input on the proposed lease and so the public is seldom forewarned about the change in operators of the license; and

WHEREAS, leasing of liquor licenses is a vestige of the property right that was attributed to liquor licenses before 1981 and is not in keeping with the intent of the 1981 law;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the alcohol and gaming division of the regulation and licensing department be requested to develop a plan to abolish the practice of leasing liquor licenses; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the policy of the state be consistent with the intent stated in Laws 1981, Chapter 39, Section 36, which stated that the holder of any license issued under the Liquor Control Act or any former act has no vested property right in the license, which is the property of the state; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the superintendent of regulation and licensing and the alcohol and gaming division.