COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 3258
(By Delegate Doyle)
(Originating in the Committee on Finance)
[February 14, 2006]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-16-8 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to permitting the sale of
nonintoxicating beer within a certain distance from a church
that consents to the sale.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-16-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 16. NONINTOXICATING BEER.
§11-16-8. Form of application for license; fee and bond; refusal
of license.
(a) A license may be issued by the Commissioner to any person
who submits an application therefor, accompanied by a license fee,
and, where required, a bond, stating under oath:
(1) The name and residence of the applicant, the duration of
such residency, that the applicant has been a resident of the state
for a period of two years next preceding the date of the application and that the applicant is twenty-one years of age. If
the applicant is a firm, association, partnership, limited
partnership or corporation, the application shall include the
residence of the members or officers for a period of two years next
preceding the date of such application:
Provided, That if any
person, firm, partnership, limited partnership, association or
corporation applies for a license as a distributor, such person, or
in the case of a firm, partnership, limited partnership or
association, the members or officers thereof shall state under oath
that each has been a bona fide resident of the state for four years
preceding the date of such application;
(2) The place of birth of applicant, that he or she is a
citizen of the United States and of good moral character and, if a
naturalized citizen, when and where naturalized; and, if a
corporation organized or authorized to do business under the laws
of the state, when and where incorporated, with the name and
address of each officer; that each officer is a citizen of the
United States and a person of good moral character; and if a firm,
association, partnership or limited partnership, the place of birth
of each member of the firm, association, partnership or limited
partnership, and that each member is a citizen of the United States
and if a naturalized citizen, when and where naturalized, each of
whom must qualify and sign the application:
Provided, That the
requirements as to residence shall not apply to the officers of a
corporation which shall apply for a retailer's license, but the
officers, agent, or employee who shall manage and be in charge of the licensed premises shall possess all of the qualifications
required of an individual applicant for a retailer's license,
including the requirement as to residence;
(3) The particular place for which the license is desired and
a detailed description thereof;
(4) The name of the owner of the building and, if the owner is
not the applicant, that such applicant is the actual and bona fide
lessee of the premises;
(5)
(1) That the place or building in which is proposed to do
business conforms to all laws of health, fire and zoning
regulations applicable thereto, and is a safe and proper place or
building, and is not within three hundred feet of any school or
church, measured from front door to front door, along the street or
streets:
Provided, That this requirement shall not apply to a
Class B license, or to any place now occupied by a beer licensee,
so long as it is continuously so occupied:
Provided, however, That
the prohibition against locating any such proposed business in a
place or building within three hundred feet of any school shall not
apply to any college or university that has notified the
Commissioner, in writing, that it has no objection to the location
of any such proposed business in a place or building within three
hundred feet of such college or university.
(2) Notwithstanding any provision of subdivision (1) of this
subsection to the contrary, for applications for licenses filed for
periods beginning after the thirty-first day of June, two thousand
six, where the location of the proposed business is within three hundred feet of a church, the application shall state that each of
the requirements of paragraph (B), subdivision (2), subsection (c)
of this section have been met.
(6) That the applicant is not incarcerated and has not during
the five years immediately preceding the date of said application
been convicted of a felony;
(7) That the applicant is the only person in any manner
pecuniarily interested in the business so asked to be licensed, and
that no other person shall be in any manner pecuniarily interested
therein during the continuance of the license; and
(8) That the applicant has not during five years next
immediately preceding the date of said application had a
nonintoxicating beer license revoked.
(b) The provisions and requirements of subsection (a) of this
section are mandatory prerequisites for the issuance, and in the
event any applicant fails to qualify under the same, license shall
be refused. In addition to the information furnished in any
application, the Commissioner may make such additional and
independent investigation of each applicant, and of the place to be
occupied, as deemed necessary or advisable; and for this reason
each and all applications, with license fee and bond, must be filed
thirty days prior to the beginning of any fiscal year, and if
application is for an unexpired portion of any fiscal year,
issuance of license may be withheld for such reasonable time as
necessary for investigation.
(c) The Commissioner may refuse a license to any applicant under the provisions of this article if the Commissioner shall be
of the opinion:
(1) That the applicant is not a suitable person to be
licensed;
(2)
(A) That the place to be occupied by the applicant is not
a suitable place; or is within three hundred feet of any school or
church, measured from front door to front door along the street or
streets:
Provided, That this requirement shall not apply to a
Class B licensee, or to any place now occupied by a beer licensee,
so long as it is continuously so occupied:
Provided, however, That
the prohibition against locating any such place to be occupied by
an applicant within three hundred feet of any school shall not
apply to any college or university that has notified the
Commissioner, in writing, that it has no objection to the location
of any such place within three hundred feet of such college or
university;
or
(B) That the requirements of this paragraph are not met.
Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph (A) of this subdivision
to the contrary, for applications for licenses filed for periods
beginning after the thirty-first day of June, two thousand six, the
location of the place or building in which an licensee or applicant
does or proposes to do business not otherwise exempted pursuant to
said paragraph (A) may be within three hundred feet of a church if
the following requirements are met:
(i) The governing body of such church has notified the
Commissioner, in writing, that it has no objection to the operation and location of the business proposed by the applicant in a place
or building within three hundred feet of the church;
(ii) The applicant provided information about the outside
appearance and floor plan of the business location to the governing
body of the church prior to gaining the church's approval;
(iii) The business has been in operated by the applicant or
the applicant's predecessor in interest in the business at the
location for at least one year prior to making application;
(iv) During the period of beer licensure, no video lottery
machines are operated at the location unless video lottery machines
were duly operated at the location by the applicant or the
applicant's predecessor in interest in the business on the
effective date of the amendment and reenactment of this section in
two thousand six; and
(v) The governing body of the church has not rescinded its
approval of the operation and location of the business within three
hundred feet of the church, which the governing body is authorized
to do effective one year after the issuance of the license and each
successive anniversary thereafter; or
(3) That the license should not be issued for reason of
conduct declared to be unlawful by this article.