A BILL to amend and reenact section seven, article three-a, chapter sixty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to changing the period within which the retail liquor licensing board may authorize the alcohol beverage control commissioner to issue additional Class B licenses in a market zone; issuance of additional Class B licenses for the retail sale of liquor in counties with population increases; changing the date upon which bids for licenses may be received; and prohibiting an increase in the number of authorized retail outlets for the sale of alcoholic liquor in certain counties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seven, article three-a, chapter sixty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3A. SALES BY RETAIL LIQUOR LICENSEES.
§60-3A-7. Market zones; Class A and Class B retail licenses.
(a) The market zones established by the board for the retail sale of liquor within this state under the enactment of this section in one thousand nine hundred ninety may not be modified by the board unless authorized by the Legislature. For each market zone established, the commissioner may issue one Class A retail license and one or more Class B retail licenses. Each Class A retail license shall permit the holder of the license to operate the number of retail outlets the board authorized for that market zone. The number of Class B retail licenses to be issued by the commissioner within each market zone shall not exceed fifty percent of the number of retail outlets authorized for the Class A retail license for that market zone, except as otherwise authorized by subsection (e) of this section or section twenty-seven-a of this article: Provided, That, except as authorized by subsection (e) of this section or section twenty- seven-a of this article, in a market zone where the number of retail outlets authorized under the Class A retail license is an odd number, the number of Class B retail licenses which may be issued in that market zone shall be rounded up to the next highest whole number following that number which is equal to fifty percent of the number of retail outlets authorized under the Class A retail license.
(b) If the board determines that a market zone is not suited for the issuance of a Class A retail license, then only Class B retail licenses may be authorized for that market zone and the board shall determine the maximum number of Class B retail licenses which may be issued for that market zone.
(c) When authorizing Class B retail licenses for a market zone, the board may create one or more designated areas within the market zone and authorize one Class B retail license for each designated area. For each market zone, the commissioner may issue additional Class B retail licenses for retail outlets to be located outside any designated area, but the number of additional Class B retail licenses, when added to the total number of Class B retail licenses issued for all designated areas within the market zone, shall not exceed the maximum number of Class B retail licenses permitted under subsection (a) of this section for that market zone, except as authorized by subsection (e) of this section or section twenty-seven-a of this article.
(d) A person may hold one or more Class A retail licenses and one or more Class B retail licenses, but for the same market zone no person shall hold a Class A retail license and a Class B retail license or more than one Class B retail license.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of subsection (a) or (c) of this section, no later than sixty ten days prior to the receipt of the bids described in section ten-b of this article, the board may authorize the commissioner to issue an additional Class B license in a market zone for the ten-year period which begins next following first day of July, where the board determines that:
(1) Each outlet authorized to operate in the market zone has been open and in operation for not less than one year;
(2) Changes in economic and demographic factors, including substantial population increases within the market zone, clearly demonstrate the need for an additional retail outlet or outlets within the market area to meet an increase in consumer demand; and
(3) The issuance of an additional Class B license in the market zone will not significantly impair the efforts to procure the revenues described in subsection (b), section ten-b of this article.
Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, the bids described in section ten-b of this article for licenses to be issued in the counties described in subsection (f) of this section may not be submitted or received prior to the first day of April, two thousand.
(f) Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, at least ten days prior to the receipt of the bids described in section ten-b of this article during the year two thousand, the board shall authorize the commissioner to issue one additional Class B license in a county for the ten-year period which begins next following first day of July where the population in the county has increased by more than ten percent as determined by a comparison of the county population totals determined under the one thousand nine hundred ninety decennial census and the official population estimates for the county made by the state for the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight and where the population of the county according to said population estimates is twenty five thousand or more. Where the county includes more than one market zone, the commissioner shall issue the license within the market zone determined by the board.

(g) Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, the number of retail outlets authorized to operate in a county for the ten-year period which begins next following first day of July may not exceed the number of retail outlets that were authorized to operate in the county as of the first day of January, two thousand if (1) the population in the county has increased by less than three percent as determined by a comparison of the county population totals determined under the one thousand nine hundred ninety decennial census and the official population estimates for the county made by the state for the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, and (2) the population in that county under the official population estimates for the county made by the state for the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight is seventy-five thousand or less.

(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, any person who submitted a bid for a retail license on or prior to the effective date of the enactment of the amendments to this section during the year two thousand may withdraw the bid without penalty and resubmit a bid for the retail license prior to the final date for submitting bids for the retail license.
(i) No provision of the amendments to this section enacted in the year two thousand may be construed to require any person who submitted a bid for a retail license on or prior to the effective date of the enactment of those amendments to resubmit the bid, and the board may not require any person who submitted a bid for a retail license on or prior to the effective date of the enactment of those amendments to resubmit the bid unless the person has failed to meet the minimum bid requirements of this article.

(f)(j) The board shall establish the minimum bid for any additional Class B licenses authorized under subsection subsections (e) or (f) of this section.
(g)(k) No person may hold a combination of licenses that, in the aggregate, authorizes the operation of more than twenty-five percent of the total number of retail outlets authorized under the provisions of this article to operate in this state.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.