§ 28-2A-20 — Ordinance and Referendum to Determine Whether Annexed Territories Should Be Legally Wet

In addition to the procedure established pursuant to Article 1, the governing body of any Class 1, 2, or 3 municipality or any municipality having a population of 18,500 or more, which is legally wet, and which has previously annexed or hereinafter annexes territory into the municipality which lies in a county which is legally dry, shall, before the annexed territory becomes wet, pass an ordinance calling for a city-wide referendum to be held to determine whether the annexed portions of the municipality shall be legally wet as herein provided. If the governing body of the municipality adopts an ordinance determining that all of the area within the corporate limits of the municipality should be legally wet, and if this decision is approved at a subsequent referendum called to decide this issue, alcoholic beverages may be lawfully sold, distributed, and consumed within the newly annexed portions of corporate limits of the municipality. If a municipality adopts such an ordinance, and if the results of the subsequent referendum are in favor of making the annexed portions of the municipality wet as evidenced by a majority of the electors of the municipality voting in the referendum voting in favor of the proposition, all of the provisions of this title, relating to alcoholic beverages in wet counties, including Chapters 3, 3A, 6, and 7, shall be immediately put into operation with respect to and effective throughout the corporate limits of the municipality. If, however, after the passage of an ordinance, the called referendum shall fail, the annexed portions of the municipality shall remain legally dry, but the vote shall not affect the wet status of those portions of the municipality which were legally wet before the referendum was conducted.

Legislative History

(Act 2003-277, p. 668, §1.)