Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

PRINTER'S NO.   74
                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
                        SENATE BILL
                        No. 117
                                               Session of
                                                 2023
     INTRODUCED BY J. WARD, DiSANTO, STEFANO AND YAW,
        JANUARY 18, 2023
     REFERRED TO LAW AND JUSTICE, JANUARY 18, 2023
                                    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
    licenses and regulations and liquor, alcohol and malt and
    brewed beverages, further providing for sale of malt or
    brewed beverages by liquor licensees, for wine expanded
    permits and for retail dispensers' restrictions on purchases
    and sales.
    The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 hereby enacts as follows:
    Section 1.    Sections 407(a)(2), 415(a)(4), (8) and (9) and
 442(a)(1)(ii) of the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21),
 known as the Liquor Code, are amended to read:
    Section 407.    Sale of Malt or Brewed Beverages by Liquor
 Licensees.--(a)   * * *
    (2)    If a restaurant liquor license holder has an interior
 connection to another business that it operates, the restaurant
 liquor license holder may use one or more of the registers in
 the other business to sell malt or brewed beverages for off-
 premises consumption under the following conditions:
    [(i)    the building is eleven thousand square feet or less;]
    (ii)    the registers are located in the same building as the
 licensed premises;
    (iii)    the registers comply with the signage, staffing,
 training, carding, scanning and prohibition on the sharing of
 data provisions of section 415(a)(8) and (9); and
    (iv)    the board has been provided notice of compliance with
 this paragraph by the restaurant liquor license holder,
 including square footage of the building and the location of the
 specific registers to be used prior to their use.
    * * *
    Section 415.    Wine Expanded Permits.--(a)   * * *
    (4)    If the board has approved the operation of another
 business which has an inside passage or communication to or with
 the licensed premises, the display, sale, storage and purchase
 of wine and malt and brewed beverages shall be [confined
 strictly to the premises, in a specifically designated area
 covered by the license.] permitted in any area of the business
 which is connected to the licensed premises by an interior
 connection or connections approved by the board. A licensed or
 unlicensed area or areas that are located within the same
 building as the licensed premises and operated or controlled by
 the same licensee, licensee's officers, servants, agents or
 employes are not required to be contiguous to any other licensed
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 or unlicensed area. The purchase of goods obtained from the
 unlicensed area of the premises shall be permitted in the
 licensed area.
    * * *
    (8)   [A] Unless presented with a valid armed forces of the
 United States identification card, a wine expanded permit holder
 shall utilize a transaction scan device to verify the age of an
 individual who appears to be under thirty-five years of age
 [before making a sale of wine] at the point of sale. A wine
 expanded permit holder may not sell or share data from the use
 of a transaction scan device, provided that the licensee may use
 the data to show the enforcement bureau of the board that the
 licensee is in compliance with this act. As used in this
 paragraph, the term "transaction scan device" means a device
 capable of deciphering, in an electronically readable format,
 the information encoded on the magnetic strip or bar code of an
 identification card under section 495(a).
    (9)   A sale of wine by a wine expanded permit holder shall be
 made through a register[, which malt or brewed beverages and
 restaurant foods sales are made] located on the licensed
 premises, which is well designated with signage[, which is
 staffed at all times when patrons are on the licensed premises].
 The actual sale shall be conducted by a sales clerk who is at
 least eighteen years of age [and], has been trained under
 section 471.1 and [which] utilizes a transaction scan device for
 the sale as set forth in paragraph (8). A sales clerk who is
 under eighteen years of age may operate a register if the sales
 clerk is presented with wine or malt or brewed beverages to be
 purchased by a customer and obtains the assistance of an employe
 who is at least eighteen years of age and the sale otherwise
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 conforms to the requirements under this section. The sale of
 wine may not occur at a point of sale where the customer scans
 the customer's own purchases. Sales of wine must occur on the
 licensed premises. A wine expanded permit holder may use a
 register that is not located on the licensed portion of the
 premises but is located within the same building as the licensed
 premises so long as the sale otherwise conforms to the
 requirements provided under this subsection.
    * * *
    Section 442.     Retail Dispensers' Restrictions on Purchases
 and Sales.--(a)    (1)   * * *
    (ii)    If a retail dispenser license holder has an interior
 connection to another business that it operates, the retail
 dispenser license holder may use one or more of the registers in
 the other business to sell malt or brewed beverages for off-
 premises consumption under the following conditions:
    [(A)    the building is eleven thousand square feet or less;]
    (B)    the registers are located in the same building as the
 licensed premises;
    (C)    the registers comply with the signage, staffing,
 training, carding, scanning and prohibition on the sharing of
 data provisions of section 415(a)(8) and (9); and
    (D)    the board has been provided notice of compliance with
 this subparagraph by the retail dispenser license holder,
 including square footage of the building and the location of the
 specific registers to be used prior to their use.
    * * *
    Section 2.     This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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