An Act concerning retail alcoholic beverage licenses and amending P.L.1947, c.94.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 6 of P.L.1947, c.94 (C.33:1-12.18) is amended to read as follows:
6. [Nothing] a. Except as provided in subsection d. of this section, in any case in which a timely renewal was not filed, nothing in this act shall be deemed to prevent the issuance of a new license to a person who files an application therefor within [60 days] one year following the expiration of the license renewal period, but who pays the municipal and State renewal fees for the year for which a timely renewal application was not filed, if the director shall determine in writing that the applicant's failure to apply for a renewal of his license was due to circumstances beyond his control or other extraordinary circumstances.
b. Any request for relief under this section shall be filed not later than one year following the expiration of the license renewal period for the license which was not renewed in a timely manner and shall be accompanied by a nonreturnable filing fee of [$100.00] $100 payable to the director for each license term.
c. A new license issued pursuant to this section shall be assigned the same license number as the license which was not renewed in a timely manner.
d. Notwithstanding subsection a. of this section, a person with an expired license which was not renewed within the five years immediately preceding the enactment of P.L. c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill), but who pays the municipal and State renewal fees for each year for which a timely renewal application was not filed, may file for issuance of a new license in accordance with subsection a. of this section within six months of the effective date of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
(cf: P.L.1992, c.188, s.7)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Under current law, an issuing authority may issue a new retail alcoholic beverage license to a licensee who did not file a timely license renewal application if (1) the licensee files an application within 60 days of the license expiration date, and (2) the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control determines that the applicant’s failure to apply for renewal of the license was due to circumstances beyond his or her control.
This bill permits an issuing authority to issue a new retail license to a licensee who did not file a timely renewal application but files an application for a new license within one year after the expiration of the license renewal period. The issuing authority would be permitted to issue the new license only if the director determines that the applicant's failure to apply for a renewal of his or her license was due to circumstances beyond the person’s control or other extraordinary circumstances. Under the bill, the licensee would be required to pay the municipal and State renewal fees for each year for which a timely renewal application was not filed.
The licensee must file the request no later than one year after the expiration of the license renewal period for the license which was not renewed in a timely manner. A filing fee of $100 is payable to the director for each license term.
A new license issued pursuant to this bill would be assigned the same license number as the license which was not renewed in a timely manner.
The bill establishes a grandfather clause for those licensees whose licenses expired within the five year period immediately preceding the date of the bill’s enactment if the licensee applies for the new license within six months after the bill’s enactment.
Extends time period for renewal of lapsed alcoholic beverage retail licenses.