Report Title:

Liquor License Application; Issuance; Community Input

Description:

Removes the provision requiring the liquor commission to deny the issuance of a liquor license where 40% of registered voters or owners and licensees file a protest against the issuance of the license; clarifies that current owners have a right to a hearing for a liquor license application; repeals the definition of "a majority of the owners and lessees of record of the real estate and owners of record of shares in a cooperative apartment" within the liquor license application law. (SD1)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

807

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to liquor license applications.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Section 281-39.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The liquor commission or agency of each county may deny or restrict the issuance of a liquor license for on-site sale and consumption by the drink to any applicant whose establishment is or would be located within five hundred feet of a public or private elementary, intermediate, or high school, or a public playground utilized extensively by minors, as determined by the liquor commission of each county[; provided that the liquor commission or agency of each county shall deny the issuance of a liquor license if forty per cent of the:

(1) Registered voters for the area within five hundred feet of the nearest point of the premises for which the license is asked; or

(2) Owners and lessees of record of real estate and owners of record of shares in a cooperative apartment within five hundred feet of the nearest point of the premises for which the license is asked;

have duly filed or caused to be filed their protests against granting the license]. The distance of five hundred feet shall be measured from the boundary of the school or public playground to the boundary of the applicant's premises. Public or private beaches, and public or private day care centers located in or adjacent to commercial areas shall not be deemed schools or public playgrounds for purposes of this section. The provisions of this section shall not apply to establishments located within areas designated by the appropriate counties for resort purposes, or to hotel liquor license applicants."

SECTION 2. Section 281-59, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Upon the day of hearing, or any adjournment thereof, the liquor commission shall consider the application and any protests and objections to the granting thereof, and hear the parties in interest. The liquor commission shall accept all written or oral testimony for or against the application whether the application is denied, refused, or withdrawn. Within fifteen days after the hearing, or within thirty days thereafter if in its discretion the commission extends the fifteen days to thirty days, and gives public notice of same, the commission shall give its decision granting or refusing the application; provided that if a majority of the:

(1) Registered voters for the area within five hundred feet of the nearest point of the premises for which the license is asked; or

(2) [Owners] Current owners and lessees of record of real estate and owners of record of shares in a cooperative apartment within five hundred feet of the nearest point of the premises for which the license is asked;

have duly filed or caused to be filed their protests against the granting of the license, or if there appears any other disqualification under this chapter, the application shall be refused. Otherwise, the commission may in its discretion grant or refuse the same.

[For purposes of defining "a majority of the owners and lessees of record of real estate and owners of record of shares in a cooperative apartment", each property counts only once. A protest submitted by the majority of the co-owners or the majority of the co-lessees of a property shall constitute a protest by all the owners or lessees of record of that property. Owners or lessees who own more than one property may count each property.]"

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.