Senate Bill No. 690
(By Senators Bowman and Kessler)
____________
[Introduced February 22, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §60-3A-4 and §60-3A-25 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to adding
various definitions and authorizations to permit liquor
sampling on Class A retail licenses.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §60-3A-4 and §60-3A-25 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3A. SALES BY RETAIL LIQUOR LICENSEES.
§60-3A-4. Definitions.
(a) "Active retail license" means a current license for a
retail outlet that has been open and in continuous operation for a
period of not less than twelve months prior to July 1, 2010, or
July 1 every ten years thereafter.
(b) "Active retail licensee" means a person who holds an
active retail license at the time of the effective date of the amendments to this section during the first extraordinary session
of the Legislature in 2009 or that person's successor or any person
who holds an active retail license when it expires at the end of a
ten-year period.
(c) "Applicant" means any person who elects to pay a purchase
option for a Class A retail license, who bids for a retail license
or who seeks the commissioner's approval to purchase or otherwise
acquire a retail license from a retail licensee, in accordance with
the provisions of this article.
(d) "Application" means the form prescribed by the
commissioner which must be filed with the commissioner by any
person bidding for a retail license.
(e) "Board" means the Retail Liquor Licensing Board created by
this article.
(f) "Class A retail license" means a retail license permitting
the retail sale of liquor at a freestanding liquor retail outlet.
(g) "Class B retail license" means a retail license permitting
the sale of liquor at a mixed retail liquor outlet.
(h) "Current retail licensee" means a person who holds a
retail license at the time of the effective date of the amendments
to this section during the first extraordinary session of the
Legislature in 2009 or that person's successor or any person who
holds a retail license when it expires at the end of a ten-year
period.
(i) "Designated areas" means one or more geographic areas within a market zone designated as such by the board.
(j) "Executive officer" means the president or other principal
officer, partner or member of an applicant or retail licensee, any
vice president or other principal officer, partner or member of an
applicant or retail licensee in charge of a principal business unit
or division, or any other officer, partner or member of an
applicant or retail licensee who performs a policy-making function.
(k) "Freestanding liquor retail outlet" means a retail outlet
that sells only liquor, beer, nonintoxicating beer and other
alcohol-related products, including tobaccorelated products.
(l) "Liquor" means alcoholic liquor as defined in section
five, article one of this chapter and also includes both wine and
fortified wines as those terms are defined in section two, article
eight of this chapter.
(m) "Liquor sampling event" means a liquor sampling approved
by the Commissioner for a Class A retail licensee during which
liquor may be sampled, as described in this article, section
twenty-five for only one specific brand of West Virginia product
per sampling day per patron twenty-one years of age or older.
(m) (n) "Market zone" means a geographic area designated as
such by the board for the purpose of issuing retail licenses.
(n) (o) "Mixed retail liquor outlet" means a retail outlet
that sells liquor, beer, nonintoxicating beer and other alcohol-
related products, including tobaccorelated products, in addition to
convenience and other retail products.
(o) (p) "Person" means an individual, firm, corporation,
association, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability
company or other entity, regardless of its form, structure or
nature.
(p) (q) "Retail license" means a license issued under the
provisions of this article permitting the sale of liquor at retail.
(q) (r) "Retail licensee" means the holder of a retail
license.
(r) (s) "Retail outlet" means a specific location where liquor
may be lawfully sold by a retail licensee under the provisions of
this article.
(t) "Sampling day" means a day of the week, other than Sunday,
approved, in writing, by the commissioner for a Class A retail
licensee to conduct a liquor sampling event.
(u)"West Virginia product" means all bourbon, brandy, cognac,
cordials, gin, grain alcohol, rye, rum, scotch, tequila, vermouth,
vodka, whisky, apertifs, premixed cocktails, fortified wines,
spirit blends, marsala, sake, sherry and all other liquor types and
classes as approved by the commissioner and maintained on the ABCC
retail liquor product list.
§60-3A-25. Certain acts of retail licensees prohibited; criminal
penalties.
(a) It is unlawful for any retail licensee, or agent or
employee thereof, on such retail licensee's premises to:
(1) Sell or offer for sale any liquor other than from the original package or container;
(2) Sell, give away, or permit the sale of, gift of, or the
procurement of, any liquor, for or to any person under twenty-one
years of age;
(3) Sell, give away, or permit the sale of, gift of, or the
procurement of, any liquor, for or to any person visibly
intoxicated;
(4) Sell or offer for sale any liquor on any Sunday or other
than during the hours permitted for the sale of liquor by retail
licensees as provided under this article;
(5) Permit the consumption by any person of any liquor;
(6) With the intent to defraud, alter, change or misrepresent
the quality, quantity or brand name of any liquor;
(7) Permit any person under eighteen years of age to sell,
furnish or give liquor to any other person;
(8) Purchase or otherwise obtain liquor in any manner or from
any source other than that specifically authorized in this article;
or
(9) Permit any person to break the seal on any package or
bottle of liquor.
(b) Any person who violates any provision of this article,
except section twenty-four of this article, including, but not
limited to, any provision of this section, or any rule promulgated
by the board or the commissioner, or who makes any false statement
concerning any material fact, or who omits any material fact with intent to deceive, in submitting an application for a retail
license or for a renewal of a retail license or in any hearing
concerning the suspension or revocation thereof, or who commits any
of the acts declared in this article to be unlawful, is guilty of
a misdemeanor and, shall, upon conviction thereof, for each offense
be fined not less than one hundred or more than five thousand
dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail for not less than thirty
days nor more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.
Magistrates have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts
for offenses under this article.
(c) Nothing in this article, or any rule of the board or
commissioner, prevents or prohibits any retail licensee from
employing any person who is at least eighteen years of age to serve
in any retail licensee's lawful employment at any retail outlet
operated by such retail licensee, or from having such person sell
or deliver liquor under the provisions of this article. With the
prior approval of the commissioner, a retail licensee may employ
persons at any retail outlet operated by such retail licensee who
are less than eighteen years of age but at least sixteen years of
age, but such persons' duties shall not include the sale or
delivery of liquor:
Provided, That the authorization to employ
such persons under the age of eighteen years shall be clearly
indicated on the retail license issued to any such retail licensee.
(d) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in this
section, except as noted in this subsection, a Class A retail licensee may, with the written approval of the commissioner,
conduct a liquor sampling event on a designated sampling day. Upon
the submission of a written proposal from a Class A retail licensee
requesting to hold a sampling day and conduct a liquor sampling
event which details the event and the specific brand and flavor of
West Virginia product to be sampled, the commissioner may approve
such a Class A retail licensee to serve a complimentary liquor
sample of the approved brand and flavor of West Virginia product
that is purchased by the Class A retail licensee at the wholesale
price. The complimentary liquor samples shall not exceed one
separate and individual sample serving per patron verified to be
twenty-one years of age or older, and the sample serving shall not
exceed one ounce in total volume, on any sampling day per verified
patron age twenty-one years or older. Servers at the liquor
sampling event shall be employees of the Class A retail licensee,
twenty-one years of age or older and have specific knowledge about
the West Virginia product being sampled to convey to a patron. All
servers at the liquor sampling events shall verify the age of any
patron sampling liquor by requiring and reviewing proper forms of
identification. Servers at the liquor sampling events shall not
serve any person who is below twenty-one years of age, intoxicated
or who is otherwise an incapacitated person. A liquor sampling
event shall only occur inside the Class A retail licensee's
licensed premise and shall cease on or before 9:00 p.m. on any
approved sampling day. Further any liquor bottles used for sampling: (i) Must be clearly and conspicuously labeled "SAMPLE,
NOT FOR RESALE", and (ii) with a broken seal or opened must be
removed from the licensed premise after 9:00 P.M. or such action is
a violation of subsection (a) and any liquor sampling event
occurring or continuing after 9:00 p.m. is a violation of
subsection (a). Any prohibited acts committed by a licensee
pursuant to subsection (a), (b) or (c) either on a sampling day or
not are violations for which the Class A retail licensee may be
charged for such prohibited acts, except as noted in this
subsection for sampling days and liquor sampling events. The
commissioner shall promulgate emergency legislative rules to
implement the provisions of this section in order to provide
liquor sampling events for Class A retail licenses to coincide
with the 2010 retail outlet bidding process.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill all relates to allowing Class
A retail licenses or freestanding liquor retail outlets the ability
to conduct responsible liquor sampling events on days of the week,
other than Sunday.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
