PRINTER'S NO. 2473
No. 1772 Session of 1990
INTRODUCED BY SHUMAKER, GREENWOOD, FISHER, JUBELIRER, BELL,
CORMAN, RHOADES, BAKER AND O'PAKE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1990
REFERRED TO LAW AND JUSTICE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1990
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), entitled, as
2 reenacted, "An act relating to alcoholic liquors, alcohol and
3 malt and brewed beverages; amending, revising, consolidating
4 and changing the laws relating thereto; regulating and
5 restricting the manufacture, purchase, sale, possession,
6 consumption, importation, transportation, furnishing, holding
7 in bond, holding in storage, traffic in and use of alcoholic
8 liquors, alcohol and malt and brewed beverages and the
9 persons engaged or employed therein; defining the powers and
10 duties of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board; providing
11 for the establishment and operation of State liquor stores,
12 for the payment of certain license fees to the respective
13 municipalities and townships, for the abatement of certain
14 nuisances and, in certain cases, for search and seizure
15 without warrant; prescribing penalties and forfeitures;
16 providing for local option, and repealing existing laws,"
17 further providing for administrative law judges, licenses and
18 licensing procedures.
19 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
20 hereby enacts as follows:
21 Section 1. Sections 212(c) and (h), 402, 433, 464 and 507 of
22 the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor
23 Code, reenacted and amended June 29, 1987 (P.L.32, No.14), are
24 amended to read:
25 Section 212. Office of Administrative Law Judge.--* * *
1 (c) Administrative law judges shall preside at all
2 licensing, citation and other enforcement hearings required or
3 permitted under this act.
4 * * *
5 (h) [Nothing in this section or this act shall be construed
6 or intended to change or affect the terms and conditions of
7 employment or the employment security of hearing examiners
8 employed by the board on the effective date of this section.]
9 The chief administrative law judge shall designate as many
10 administrative law judges as necessary to preside at licensing
11 hearings. Administrative law judges designated under this
12 subsection may not preside over citation or enforcement matters.
13 Section 402. License Districts; License Year; Hearings.--(a)
14 The board shall, by regulation, divide the State into convenient
15 license districts and shall hold hearings on applications for
16 licenses and renewals thereof, as it deems necessary, at a
17 convenient place or places in each of said districts, at such
18 times as it shall fix, by regulation, for the purpose of hearing
19 testimony for and against applications for new licenses and
20 renewals thereof. The board shall hold a hearing on any
21 application for a new hotel, club or restaurant liquor license
22 or the transfer of any such license to a new location, upon the
23 request of any person with standing to testify under subsection
24 (b) if the request is filed with the board within the first
25 fifteen days of posting of the notice of application pursuant to
26 section 403(g). The board [may] shall provide for the holding of
27 such hearings by [examiners learned in the law, to be appointed
28 by the Governor, who shall not be subject to the "Civil Service
29 Act." Such examiners] administrative law judges, who shall make
30 a report to the board in each case with their recommendations.
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1 The board shall, by regulation, fix the license year for each
2 separate district so that the expiration dates shall be uniform
3 in each of the several districts but staggered as to the State.
4 (b) Where a hearing is held in the case of an application
5 for a new hotel, club or restaurant liquor license or an
6 application for the transfer of a hotel, club or restaurant
7 liquor license to a new location, the board shall permit
8 residents residing within a radius of five hundred feet of the
9 premises to testify at the hearing. The board and any [hearing
10 officer] administrative law judge thereof shall give appropriate
11 evidentiary weight to any testimony of such residents given at
12 the hearing.
13 Section 433. Public Service Licenses.--The board may issue
14 public service malt and brewed beverage licenses to a railroad,
15 pullman or steamship company permitting malt or brewed beverages
16 to be sold at retail in dining, club or buffet cars, or the
17 dining compartments of steamships or vessels, for consumption on
18 the trains, steamships or vessels wherever operated in the
19 State, except when standing in stations or terminals within a
20 municipality wherein retail sales are prohibited. Such licenses
21 shall only be granted to reputable persons and for fit places.
22 The board may issue a master license to railroad or pullman
23 companies to cover the maximum number of cars which the company
24 shall estimate that it will operate within the Commonwealth on
25 any one day. Such licensees shall file monthly reports with the
26 board showing the maximum number of cars operated at any time on
27 any day during the preceding month, and if it appears that more
28 cars have been operated than covered by its license it shall
29 forthwith remit to the board the sum of ten dollars for each
30 extra car so operated. The board shall have the power to suspend
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1 or revoke any such licenses for cause after granting a hearing
2 before [a hearing examiner to the licensee] an administrative
3 law judge. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the board in
4 refusing, suspending or revoking any such license may appeal to
5 the Commonwealth Court in the same manner as provided in this
6 article for appeals from refusals of licenses.
7 Section 464. Hearings Upon Refusal of Licenses, Renewals or
8 Transfers; Appeals.--The board may of its own motion, and shall
9 upon the written request of any applicant for club, hotel or
10 restaurant liquor license, or any applicant for any malt or
11 brewed beverage license other than a public service license, or
12 for renewal or transfer thereof, whose application for such
13 license, renewal or transfer has been refused, fix a time and
14 place for hearing of such application for license or for renewal
15 or transfer thereof, notice of which hearing shall be mailed to
16 the applicant at the address given in his application. Such
17 hearing shall be before [a hearing examiner designated by the
18 board] an administrative law judge. At such hearing, the board
19 shall present its reasons for its refusal or withholding of
20 license, renewal or transfer thereof. The applicant may appear
21 in person or by counsel, may cross-examine the witnesses for the
22 board and may present evidence which shall likewise be subject
23 to cross-examination by the board. Such hearing shall be
24 stenographically recorded. The [examiner] administrative law
25 judge shall thereafter report to the board upon such hearing.
26 The board shall thereupon grant or refuse the license, renewal
27 or transfer thereof. In considering the renewal of a license,
28 the board shall not refuse any such renewal on the basis of the
29 propriety of the original issuance or any prior renewal of such
30 license. If the board shall refuse such license, renewal or
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1 transfer following such hearing, notice in writing of such
2 refusal shall be mailed to the applicant at the address given in
3 his application. In all such cases, the board shall file of
4 record at least a brief statement in the form of an opinion of
5 the reasons for the ruling or order and furnish a copy thereof
6 to the applicant. Any applicant who has appeared at any hearing,
7 as above provided, who is aggrieved by the refusal of the board
8 to issue any such license or to renew or transfer any such
9 license may appeal, or any church, hospital, charitable
10 institution, school or public playground located within three
11 hundred feet of the premises applied for, aggrieved by the
12 action of the board in granting the issuance of any such license
13 or the transfer of any such license, may take an appeal limited
14 to the question of such grievance, within twenty days from date
15 of refusal or grant, to the court of common pleas of the county
16 in which the premises applied for is located. Such appeal shall
17 be upon petition of the aggrieved party, who shall serve a copy
18 thereof upon the board, whereupon a hearing shall be held upon
19 the petition by the court upon ten days' notice to the board.
20 The said appeal shall act as a supersedeas unless upon
21 sufficient cause shown the court shall determine otherwise. The
22 court shall hear the application de novo on questions of fact,
23 administrative discretion and such other matters as are
24 involved, at such time as it shall fix, of which notice shall be
25 given to the board. The court shall either sustain or over-rule
26 the action of the board and either order or deny the issuance of
27 a new license or the renewal or transfer of the license to the
28 applicant.
29 Section 507. Hearings on Licenses and Refusals.--(a) The
30 board may of its own motion, and shall upon the written request
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1 of the enforcement bureau or of any applicant for license or for
2 renewal thereof whose application for such license or renewal
3 has been refused, fix a time and place for hearing of such
4 application or renewal, notice of which hearing shall be sent to
5 the bureau and to the applicant, by registered mail, at the
6 address given in his application. Such hearing shall be before
7 [the board, a member thereof, or] an [examiner designated by the
8 board] administrative law judge.
9 (b) At such hearing, the board shall present its reasons for
10 its refusal or withholding of such license or renewal thereof or
11 the bureau shall present its objections to the granting or
12 renewal of the license, as the case may be. The applicant may
13 appear in person or by counsel, may cross-examine the witnesses
14 for the board or the bureau, and may present evidence which
15 shall likewise be subject to cross-examination by the board or
16 the bureau. Such hearing shall be stenographically recorded. The
17 [examiner] administrative law judge shall thereafter report to
18 the board. The board shall thereafter grant or refuse the
19 license or renewal thereof.
20 (c) Hearings and adjudications pursuant to this section
21 shall be in accordance with 2 Pa.C.S. Ch. 5 Subch. A (relating
22 to practice and procedure of Commonwealth agencies).
23 Section 2. By November 21, 1990, the Pennsylvania Liquor
24 Control Board shall deposit with the Legislative Reference
25 Bureau a notice explaining the implementation of this act.
26 Section 3. Equipment, materials and funds utilized in
27 connection with the functions of hearing examiners are
28 transferred to the Office of Administrative Law Judge.
29 Section 4. Hearing examiners shall have 30 days following
30 the effective date of this act to complete work on hearings
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1 conducted prior to the effective date of this act.
2 Section 5. This act shall take effect as follows:
3 (1) Section 2 and this section shall take effect
4 immediately.
5 (2) The remainder of this act shall take effect January
6 1, 1991.
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