Bill Text: NJ S2853 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows municipalities to adopt ordinance to reduce population limit for certain alcoholic beverage retail consumption licenses.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-04 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee [S2853 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S2853-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Allows municipalities to adopt ordinance to reduce population limit for certain alcoholic beverage retail consumption licenses.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning alcoholic beverage retail 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 2 of P.L.1947, c.94 (C.33:1-12.14) is amended to read as follows:
2. a. Except as otherwise provided in this [act] Title and subsection b. of this section, a new plenary retail consumption or seasonal retail consumption license shall not be issued in a municipality unless and until the combined total number of such licenses existing in the municipality is fewer than one for each 3,000 of its population [according to the most recent estimates issued by the U.S. Bureau of the Census; provided, however, in the year that the official federal decennial counts are received by the Governor, those federal decennial counts shall be used] .
b. The governing body of a municipality may adopt an ordinance to decrease over the course of five years the population limit necessary to issue plenary retail consumption licenses or seasonal retail consumption licenses established pursuant to subsection a. of this section. A municipal ordinance adopted pursuant to this subsection shall establish that a new plenary retail consumption or seasonal retail consumption license shall not be issued in the municipality unless and until:
(1) prior to the first day of the 13th month following the adoption of the ordinance, the combined total number of such licenses existing in the municipality is fewer than one for each 3,000 of its population;
(2) on the first day of the 13th month following the adoption of the ordinance, the combined total number of such licenses existing in the municipality is fewer than one for each 2,800 of its population;
(3) on the first day of the 25th month following the adoption of the ordinance, the combined total number of such licenses existing in the municipality is fewer than one for each 2,600 of its population;
(4) on the first day of the 37th month following the adoption of the ordinance, the combined total number of such licenses existing in the municipality is fewer than one for each 2,400 of its population;
(5) on the first day of the 49th month following the adoption of the ordinance, the combined total number of such licenses existing in the municipality is fewer than one for each 2,200 of its population; and
(6) on the first day of the 61st month following the adoption of the ordinance, the combined total number of such licenses existing in the municipality is fewer than one for each 2,000 of its population.
[No] c. A new plenary retail distribution license shall not be issued in a municipality unless and until the number of such licenses existing in the municipality is fewer than one for each 7,500 of its population [according to the most recent estimates issued by the U.S. Bureau of the Census; provided, however, in the year that the official federal decennial counts are received by the Governor, those federal decennial counts shall be used].
d. A municipality's population shall be determined pursuant to this section according to the most recent estimates issued by the U.S. Bureau of the Census; provided, however, in the year that the official federal decennial counts are received by the Governor, those federal decennial counts shall be used.
(cf: P.L.1999, c.189, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill allows the governing body of a municipality to adopt an ordinance to reduce the population limit necessary to issue additional plenary retail consumption licenses.
Under current law, plenary retail consumption licenses authorize the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the licensed premises, which generally applies to bars and restaurants. The number of plenary retail consumption licenses issued by a municipality is limited based on the population of that municipality. A municipality may issue plenary retail and seasonal retail consumption licenses until the combined total number in the municipality is fewer than one license for each 3,000 municipal residents. Due to this restriction, there is a shortage of these licenses in some municipalities.
To address this shortage, this bill allows municipalities to adopt an ordinance to decrease the current population limit of one license for every 3,000 municipal residents by 200 municipal residents each year over the course of the next five years until the population limit is one license for every 2,000 municipal residents. This would allow municipalities to issue additional retail consumption licenses.
