A03168
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
1617
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY STAATS, CAUSER, ROTHMAN, YOUNGBLOOD, STEPHENS,
DOWLING, RADER, JAMES, PYLE, OTTEN, MALAGARI, EVERETT,
MACKENZIE, SAINATO, GAYDOS, JOZWIAK, FARRY, IRVIN AND
STRUZZI, JUNE 11, 2019
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LIQUOR CONTROL, JUNE 11, 2019
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), entitled "An
act relating to alcoholic liquors, alcohol and malt and
brewed beverages; amending, revising, consolidating and
changing the laws relating thereto; regulating and
restricting the manufacture, purchase, sale, possession,
consumption, importation, transportation, furnishing, holding
in bond, holding in storage, traffic in and use of alcoholic
liquors, alcohol and malt and brewed beverages and the
persons engaged or employed therein; defining the powers and
duties of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board; providing
for the establishment and operation of State liquor stores,
for the payment of certain license fees to the respective
municipalities and townships, for the abatement of certain
nuisances and, in certain cases, for search and seizure
without warrant; prescribing penalties and forfeitures;
providing for local option, and repealing existing laws," in
general provisions applying to both liquor and malt and
brewed beverages, further providing for limiting number of
retail licenses to be issued in each county.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 461(c) of the act of April 12, 1951
(P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, is amended by adding
a clause to read:
Section 461. Limiting Number of Retail Licenses To Be Issued
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In Each County.--* * *
(c) The word "hotel" as used in this section shall mean any
reputable place operated by a responsible person of good
reputation where the public may, for a consideration, obtain
sleeping accommodations, and which shall have the following
number of bedrooms and requirements in each case--at least one-
half of the required number of bedrooms shall be regularly
available to transient guests seven days weekly, except in
resort areas; at least one-third of such bedrooms shall be
equipped with hot and cold water, a lavatory, commode, bathtub
or shower and a clothes closet; and an additional one-third of
the total of such required rooms shall be equipped with lavatory
and commode:
* * *
(9.2) For two years after the effective date of this clause,
upon application to the board and payment of a fee of twenty-
five thirty thousand dollars ($25,000) ($30,000) by a hotel
licensee, the board shall convert a hotel license under clause
(8) of this subsection for a hotel licensee that applied for an
exemption under clause (9) or (9.1) of this subsection before
January 1, 2019, to a restaurant license without regard to the
quota restrictions set forth in subsection (a). This clause
shall not apply to a hotel license with a pending objection by
the director of the Bureau of Licensing or the board under
section 470(a.1) until the application for renewal of the hotel
license is approved. This clause shall not apply to hotel
licenses in a city of the first class. An application to
transfer a restaurant license that was converted from a hotel
license under this clause in accordance with section 404 within
five years after the board received the application for the
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restaurant license shall be subject to a fee of twenty-five per
centum (25%) or twenty-five thirty thousand dollars ($25,000)
($30,000) , whichever is greater, of the transactional cost for
the transfer of the restaurant license . to be paid by the seller
of the license. As used in this paragraph, the term
"transactional cost" shall mean the cost of the restaurant
license.
* * *
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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