§ 57-3-210 — Restrictions on license holders - Employees - Penalties

(a) The license fee for every license issued under this chapter shall be payable by the person making application for such license and to whom it is issued, and no other person shall pay for any license issued under such sections. In addition to all other penalties provided in this chapter, a violation of this section shall authorize and require the revocation of the license, the fee for which was paid by another, and also the revocation of the license, if any, of the person so paying for the license of another. (b) (1) No wholesaler's or retailer's license shall be issued to a person who is a holder of a public office, either appointive or elective, or who is a public employee, either national, state, city or county. It is unlawful for any such person to have any interest in such wholesale or retail business, directly or indirectly, either proprietary or by means of any loan, mortgage, or lien, or to participate in the profits of any such business. (2) The foregoing shall not apply to uncompensated appointees to municipal boards and commissions where the boards or commissions on which such appointees serve have no duty to vote for, overlook, or in any manner superintend the sale of alcoholic beverages. (c) No wholesaler or retailer shall be a person who has been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude, within ten (10) years prior to the time the person or the concern with which the person is connected shall receive a license; provided, however, that this subsection (c) shall not apply to any person who has been so convicted, but whose rights of citizenship have been restored or judgment of infamy has been removed by a court of competent jurisdiction; and in the case of any such conviction occurring after a license has been issued and received, the license shall immediately be revoked, if such convicted felon be an individual licensee, and if not, the partnership, corporation or association with which the felon is connected shall immediately discharge the felon. (d) None of the licenses or permits provided by this chapter, or which may be issued thereunder, shall under any condition be issued to any person who, within ten (10) years preceding application for such license or permit shall have been convicted of any offense under this title or of any similar law of any other state or of the United States prohibiting or regulating the sale, possession, transportation, storing, manufacturing, or otherwise handling intoxicating liquors or who has, during such period, been engaged in business alone or with others, in violation of any of such laws or rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, as they existed on March 2, 1939, or as they existed or may exist thereafter. (e) No manufacturer, brewer or wholesaler shall have any interest in the business or building containing licensed premises of any other person having a license under this chapter, or in the fixtures of any such person. (f) (1) It is unlawful for any person to have ownership in, or participate, in, either directly or indirectly, the profits of any wholesale or retail business licensed under this chapter, unless the interest in such business and the nature, extent and character thereof shall appear on the application; or if the interest is acquired after the issuance of a license, unless it shall be fully disclosed to the commission and approved by it. Where such interest is owned by such person on or before the application for any license, the burden shall be upon such person to see that this section is fully complied with, whether the person personally signs or prepares the application, or whether the same is prepared by another; or if such interest is acquired after the issuance of the license, the burden of such disclosure of the acquisition of such interest shall be upon both the seller and the purchaser. (2) A violation of this subsection (f) is a Class C misdemeanor. (g) No person shall be employed in the storage, sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages except a citizen of the United States. (h) No manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer, or any employee thereof, engaged in the physical manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages shall be a person under eighteen (18) years of age, and it is unlawful for any wholesaler or retailer to employ any person under eighteen (18) years of age for the physical storage, sale, or distribution of alcoholic beverages, or to permit any such person under such age on its place of business to engage in the manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages. (i) No manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer shall employ in the manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages, any person who, within ten (10) years prior to the date of employment, shall have been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude, and in case an employee should be so convicted, the employee shall immediately be discharged; provided, however, that this subsection (i) shall not apply to any person who has been so convicted, but whose rights of citizenship have been restored, or judgment of infamy has been removed by a court of competent jurisdiction. (j) This section shall be in addition to any other restriction or condition which may be contained elsewhere in this chapter or chapters 1 and 9 of this title.

Legislative History

Acts 1939, ch. 49, §§ 5, 12; 1945, ch. 167, § 7; 1949, ch. 284, § 7; C. Supp. 1950, §§ 6648.15, 6648.16 (Williams, §§ 6648.8, 6648.14, 6648.15); Acts 1963, ch. 257, § 26; 1971, ch. 162, § 2; 1971, ch. 169, § 1; impl. am. Acts 1979, ch. 413, §§ 3, 4; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 57-123; Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 113; 2006, ch. 616, § 2.