Makes various revisions to the laws governing alcoholic beverage licensing.
What changed between versions
Replaced 'limited brewery licensee' with 'craft manufacturer's licensee' in the food vendor coordination definition, broadening the provision to cover all craft manufacturers (breweries, cideries/meaderies, and distilleries) rather than just limited breweries.
Farm brewery license: expanded from allowing consumption only 'off the licensed premises' to 'on or off the licensed premises,' permitting on-site drinking at farm breweries.
Off-premises special events: added 'chilled and' before 'unchilled packaged goods,' allowing craft manufacturers to sell both chilled and unchilled packaged products, growlers, and crowlers at off-premises events.
Added new subsection g to Section 7 providing that the expiration requirements for inactive plenary retail consumption licenses shall not apply to a governing body holding an inactive license specifically for use in a redevelopment, improvement, or revitalization area as defined by P.L.2023, c.290.
Added provision in Section 6 that a receiving municipality acquiring a license via the request-for-proposal process may offer it at public sale pursuant to P.L.1975, c.275, giving receiving municipalities an additional disposition option.
Farm brewery license: changed from 'substantially produced from hops or other ingredients grown on that tract of land' to 'contain at least 51 percent of its ingredients from hops, grains or other ingredients grown or cultivated on that tract of land.' This adds a specific numerical threshold and explicitly includes grains as an eligible ingredient.
Added 'failure to obtain governmental approval despite a good faith effort to do so' as an additional ground (alongside eminent domain, fire, or other casualty) under which a license holder may appeal the expiration of a transferred license that was not actively used within two years. This appears in multiple sections covering different transfer mechanisms.
Added new provision (subsection e in Section 4 and corresponding subsection in Section 6) stating that notwithstanding the Municipal Finance Law, a municipality may obtain a license through capital funding, borrowing, or any other method approved by the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs.
Replaced 'Class C' with 'plenary retail consumption' throughout Sections 7 and 8, updating the terminology to match current statutory language.
Changed references from 'issuing municipality' to 'sending municipality' in multiple license transfer provisions (Sections 4, 5, and 6), and changed 'host municipality' to 'sending municipality' in Section 6, clarifying the role of the municipality relinquishing the license.
In Section 7, updated the cross-reference for license transfers from 'section 3 of P.L.2023, c.290' to 'sections 4 through 6 of P.L.____, c.___ (pending before the Legislature as this bill),' pointing to the new transfer provisions in this bill rather than the prior law.
In Section 6, changed the reissuance reference from 'outlined elsewhere in this chapter' to the specific citation 'pursuant to P.L.1975, c.275 (C.33:1-19.1 et seq.)' for greater precision.
The entire STATEMENT section (a non-binding legislative summary explaining the bill's provisions) was removed from the reprint version.
