§ 28-3A-23 — Regulation of Grant of Licenses

(a) No license prescribed in this title shall be issued or renewed until the provisions of this title have been complied with and the filing and license fees other than those levied by a municipality are paid to the board.
(b) Licenses shall be granted and issued by the board only to reputable individuals, to associations whose members are reputable individuals, or to reputable corporations organized under the laws of this state or duly qualified thereunder to do business in Alabama, or, in the case of manufacturers, duly registered under the laws of Alabama, and then only when it appears that all officers and directors of the corporation are reputable individuals.
(c)(1) In addition to all other requirements, an applicant for a license under this section shall submit to the board a form, sworn to by the applicant, providing written consent from the applicant for the release of criminal history background information. The form shall also require the applicant’s name, date of birth, and Social Security number for completion of a criminal history background check.
(2) An applicant shall provide the board with two complete functional sets of fingerprints, either cards or electronic, properly executed by a criminal justice agency or an individual properly trained in fingerprinting techniques. The fingerprints and form shall be submitted by the board to the State Bureau of Investigations for the purposes of furnishing criminal background checks. The State Bureau of Investigations shall forward a copy of the applicant’s prints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal background check. The applicant shall pay all costs associated with the background checks required by this section.
(3) For purposes of this section, the term “applicant” shall include every person who has any proprietary or profit interest of 10 percent or more in the licensed establishment, but shall not include any public corporation whose shares are traded on a recognized stock exchange.
(4) The board shall keep information received pursuant to this section confidential, except that information received and relied upon in denying the issuance of a license in this state may be disclosed as may be necessary to support the denial or when subpoenaed from a court.
(d) Every license issued under this title shall be constantly and conspicuously displayed on the licensed premises.
(e) Each retail liquor license application must be approved by the governing authority of the municipality if the retailer is located in a municipality, or by the county commission if the retailer is located in the county and outside the limits of the municipality, before the board shall have authority to grant the license.
(f) Any retailer may be granted licenses to maintain, operate, or conduct any number of places for the sale of alcoholic beverages, but a separate license must be secured for each place where alcoholic beverages are sold. No retail license issued under this title shall be used for more than one premises, nor for separate types of operation on the same premises. Provided, however, any such licensed retail operation existing on May 14, 2009, and operating based on dual licenses, both a club or lounge license and a restaurant license, on the same premises shall be exempt from the requirement of the preceding sentence and may continue to operate under the dual licenses. Any rule adopted by the board relating to the requirements concerning dual licenses, both a club or lounge license and a restaurant license, shall not apply to any retail operation existing on May 14, 2009. The rules shall include, but not be limited to, the maintenance of separate books, separate entrances, and separate inventories. Each premises must have a separate retail license. Where more than one retail operation is located within the same building, each operation under a separate or different ownership is required to obtain a separate retail license; and where more than one type of retail operation located within the same building is operated by the same licensee, the licensee must have a license for each type of retail operation. Provided, there shall be no licenses issued by the board for the sale of liquor, beer, or wine by rolling stores.
(g) No retailer shall sell any alcoholic beverages for consumption on the licensed premises except in a room or rooms or place on the licensed premises at all times accessible to the use and accommodation of the general public; but this section shall not be interpreted to prevent a hotel or club licensee from selling alcoholic beverages in any room of the hotel or club house occupied by a bona fide registered guest or member or private party entitled to purchase the same.
(h) All beer, except draft or keg beer, sold by retailers must be sold or dispensed in bottles, cans, or other containers not to exceed 25.4 ounces. All wine sold by retailers for off-premises consumption must be sold or dispensed in bottles or other containers in accordance with the standards of fill specified in the then effective standards of fill for wine prescribed by the U.S. Treasury Department.
(i) Draft or keg beer may be sold or dispensed within this state within those counties in which and in the manner in which the sale of draft or keg beer was authorized by law on September 30, 1980, or in which the sale of draft or keg beer is hereafter authorized by law. In rural communities with a predominantly foreign population, after the payment of the tax imposed by this title, draft or keg beer may be sold or dispensed by special permit from the board, when, in the judgment of the board, the use and consumption of draft or keg beer is in accordance with the habit and customs of the people of any such rural community. The board may grant to any civic center authority or its franchisee or concessionaire, to which the board may have issued or may simultaneously issue a retail license under the provisions of this title, a revocable temporary permit to sell or dispense in any part of its civic center, for consumption therein, draft or keg beer. Either permit shall be promptly revoked by the board if, in its judgment, the same tends to create intemperance or is prejudicial to the welfare, health, peace, temperance, and safety of the people of the community or of the state.
(j) No importer shall sell alcoholic beverages to any person other than a wholesaler licensee, or sell to a wholesaler licensee any brand or brands of alcoholic beverages for sale or distribution in this state, except where the importer has been granted written authorization from the manufacturer thereof to import and sell the brand or brands to be sold in this state, which authorization is on file with the board.
(k) No wholesaler shall maintain or operate any place where sales are made other than that for which the wholesale license is granted; provided, however, a wholesaler may be licensed to sell and distribute liquor, wine, and beer. No wholesaler shall maintain any place for the storage of liquor, wine, or beer unless the same has been approved by the board. No wholesaler license shall be issued for any premises in any part of which there is operated any retail license for the sale of alcoholic beverages.
(l) Licenses issued under this title may not be assigned. The board may transfer any license from one person to another, or from one place to another within the same governing jurisdiction, or both, as the board may determine; but no transfers shall be made to a person who would not have been eligible to receive the license originally, nor for the transaction of business at a place for which the license could not originally have been issued lawfully.
(m) Every applicant for a transfer of a license shall file a written application with the board within such time as the board shall fix in its rules. Whenever any license is transferred, there shall be collected a filing fee of fifty dollars ($50), to be paid to the board, and the board shall pay the fee into the State Treasury to the credit of the Beer Tax and License Fund of the board.
(n) In the event that any person to whom a license has been issued under the terms of this title becomes insolvent, makes an assignment for the benefit of creditors, or is adjudicated as bankrupt by either voluntary or involuntary action, the license of the person shall immediately terminate and be cancelled without any action on the part of the board, and there shall be no refund made, or credit given, for the unused portion of the license fee for the remainder of the license year for which the license was granted. Thereafter, no license shall be issued by the board for the premises, wherein the license was conducted, to any assignee, committee, trustee, receiver, or successor of the licensee until a hearing has been held by the board as in the case of a new application for license. In all such cases, the board shall have the sole and final discretion as to the propriety of the issuance of a license for the premises, the time it shall issue, and the period for which it shall be issued, and shall have the further power to impose conditions under which the licensed premises shall be conducted.

Legislative History

(Acts 1980, No. 80-529, p. 806, §23; Acts 1981, No. 81-808, p. 1434; Acts 1994, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 94-791, p. 95, §1; Act 2009-546, p. 1446, §2; Act 2012-468, p. 1290, §1; Act 2021-188, §2; Act 2023-312, §1.)