PRINTER'S NO. 2069
No. 1633 Session of 2003
INTRODUCED BY BELFANTI, EACHUS, SOLOBAY, DeWEESE, ALLEN, BARD,
BEBKO-JONES, BELARDI, BUNT, BUXTON, CORRIGAN, COSTA, CRUZ,
DALEY, GEORGE, GERGELY, GOODMAN, GORDNER, GRUCELA, HARHAI,
HENNESSEY, JAMES, KOTIK, LAUGHLIN, McGEEHAN, PETRARCA,
PISTELLA, READSHAW, ROBERTS, SEMMEL, SHANER, SURRA, TIGUE,
TRAVAGLIO, TURZAI, WASHINGTON, WATERS, WOJNAROSKI AND HORSEY,
JUNE 17, 2003
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LIQUOR CONTROL, JUNE 17, 2003
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 providing an exception to the quota system for licenses
18 issued to volunteer fire companies.
19 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
20 hereby enacts as follows:
21 Section 1. Section 461(a) of the act of April 12, 1951
22 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, reenacted and amended
23 June 29, 1987 (P.L.32, No.14) and amended February 21, 2002
1 (P.L.103, No.10), is amended and the section is amended by
2 adding a subsection to read:
3 Section 461. Limiting Number of Retail Licenses To Be Issued
4 In Each County.--(a) No additional restaurant, eating place
5 retail dispenser or club licenses shall be issued within a
6 county if the total number of restaurant and eating place retail
7 dispenser licenses is greater than one license for each three
8 thousand inhabitants in the county, except the board may issue
9 licenses to public venues, performing arts facilities,
10 continuing care retirement communities, airport restaurants,
11 municipal golf courses, hotels, privately-owned private golf
12 courses, privately-owned public golf courses, racetracks,
13 automobile racetracks, nonprimary pari-mutuel wagering
14 locations, volunteer fire companies and to any other entity
15 which this act specifically exempts from the limitations
16 provided in this section, and the board may issue a license to a
17 club situated in a borough having a population less than eight
18 thousand inhabitants which is located in a county of the second
19 class A whose application is filed on or before February 28,
20 2001. In addition, the board may issue an eating place retail
21 dispenser license for on-premises sales only to the owner or
22 operator of a facility having a minimum of a one-half mile
23 asphalt track and having a permanent seating capacity of at
24 least six thousand people used principally for holding
25 automobile races, regardless of the number of restaurant and
26 eating place retail dispenser licenses already issued in that
27 county. When determining the number of restaurant and eating
28 place retail dispenser licenses issued in a county for the
29 purposes of this section, licenses exempted from this limitation
30 and club licenses shall not be considered. Inhabitants of dry
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1 municipalities shall be considered when determining the
2 population in a county. Licenses shall not be issued or
3 transferred into municipalities where such licenses are
4 prohibited pursuant to local referendum in accordance with
5 section 472. Licenses approved for intermunicipal transfer may
6 not be transferred from the receiving municipality for a period
7 of five years after the date that the licensed premises are
8 operational in the receiving municipality.
9 * * *
10 (i) "Volunteer fire company" as used in this section shall
11 mean an organization that meets the requirements of the
12 definition of a club under section 102, except that its primary
13 interest and activity is firefighting and protection and, if the
14 organization is not incorporated, has been in continuous
15 existence and operation for at least two years, immediately
16 preceding the date of its application for a license under this
17 act.
18 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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