Amendment #110 to H4714

Umbrella Liquor Licenses

Mr. Hunt of Boston moves to amend the bill by adding the following new section:

SECTION XX. Chapter 138 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following new section:-

Section 79. Project-based licenses.

As used the following paragraph, the following words shall have the following meanings:

“Qualifying project,” a real estate development project consisting of a building or group of buildings under common or affiliated ownership with a total combined gross floor area of at least 700,000 square feet and including at least 100,000 square feet of commercial space.

“Restricted project based licenses,” licenses for (i) the sale of all alcoholic beverages to be drunk on the premises within a qualifying project; and (ii) the sale of wines and malt beverages to be drunk on the premises within a qualifying project, and which are not subject to the quota established under section 17 of chapter 138.

“Umbrella restricted project based license” or “umbrella license,” a license granted to the owner of a qualifying project under which additional restricted project based licensees operating within the qualifying project may be added, and which is not subject to the quota established under section 17 of chapter 138.

The licensing authority for a city of town may grant an umbrella license to an owner of a qualifying project subject to the approval of the alcoholic beverages control commission. The licensing authority may grant restricted project based licenses pursuant to section 12 of chapter 138 to applicants operating within a qualifying project that is in possession of an umbrella restricted project based license, subject to the approval of the alcoholic beverages control commission. The licensing board shall not approve the addition of licensees operating outside of the qualifying project and shall not approve the transfer of such umbrella license to a location outside of the qualifying project.  An umbrella license or any of its restricted project based licenses shall be nontransferable to any person, corporation, or organization operating outside of the qualifying project or alternate location within qualifying project and shall be marked as such on its face.  Notwithstanding this paragraph or any other special or general law to the contrary, umbrella licenses or restricted project based licenses shall not be subject to or counted against the municipal quota set forth in section 17 of chapter 138. An umbrella license or a restricted project based license issued under this paragraph, if cancelled, revoked, or no longer in use at the location of original issuance, shall be returned physically, with all of the legal rights, privileges and restrictions pertaining thereto, to the licensing board.

A city or town that wishes to opt out of this section may do so by adopting an ordinance or by-law through the local legislative body.

The owner of a qualifying project shall pay a licensing fee of $150,000 for the umbrella license to be paid within 30 days after the award of the license.