HB 618 Kentucky House · 2025 Regular Session

AN ACT relating to alcoholic beverages.

Summary
Amend various sections of KRS Chapter 243 to allow a licensee to purchase alcohol directly from retailers only to be sold by the drink for consumption on the licensed premises or off-premises pursuant to KRS 243.081; amend KRS 244.590 to remove language relating to draught-line cleaning.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
Signed into Law
Mar 2025
Introduced Feb 18, 2025 Signed Mar 31, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Current/Final · 7 edits
MODERATE
This bill amends Kentucky's alcohol licensing laws to clarify definitions and update requirements for limited restaurant licenses and nonquota retail drink licenses. The changes primarily focus on expanding eligibility criteria for certain license types, clarifying purchase limits, and updating statutory references to ensure consistency across alcohol regulation provisions.
Scope change
The bill's scope expanded from 'alcohol retail premises' to 'alcoholic beverages' and modified eligibility requirements for limited restaurant and nonquota type licenses.
DEFINITION

Changed the bill title from 'alcohol retail premises' to 'alcoholic beverages' to broaden the scope of regulation.

ELIGIBILITY

Updated KRS 243.034 to clarify that limited restaurant licenses can be issued to establishments in wet territories or moist precincts that have authorized alcohol sales.

Amended KRS 243.084 to update eligibility criteria for Nonquota type 2 (NQ2) retail drink licenses for hotels, restaurants, airports, riverboats, distillers, and entertainment destination centers.

Replaced KRS 243.250 with KRS 243.088 to update regulations for Nonquota type 4 (NQ4) retail malt beverage drink licenses.

REQUIREMENT

Modified purchase limits for limited restaurant licenses, specifying monthly caps of 9 liters of distilled spirits, 9 liters of wine, and 3 cases of malt beverages.

Added reporting requirements for NQ2 license purchases, requiring quarterly reporting and receipt copies to the department.

Clarified that NQ4 license holders can only sell malt beverages by the drink from licensed premises and must purchase from distributors except under specific subsection exceptions.

Floor votes · House Mar 6, 2025

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
33
Key actions
10
Committee
9
Mar 31, 2025
Signed into law
signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 130)
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Upper · Passed
enrolled, signed by President of the Senate
upper
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
passed 76-14
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
House concurred in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Committee
to Rules (H)
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
3rd reading, passed 34-3 with Committee Substitute (1)
lower
Mar 27, 2025
Lower · Passed
reported favorably, to Rules with Committee Substitute (1)
lower
Mar 12, 2025
Committee
to Licensing & Occupations (S)
upper
Mar 7, 2025
Committee
to Committee on Committees (S)
upper
Mar 6, 2025
Lower · Passed
3rd reading, passed 80-13 with Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title)
lower
Mar 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
reported favorably, to Rules with Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title)
lower
Feb 26, 2025
Committee
to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H)
lower
Feb 18, 2025
Committee
to Committee on Committees (H)
lower
Feb 18, 2025
Introduced
introduced in House
lower
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.