LCO No. 4567 1 of 5
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7183
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4567
Referred to Committee on GENERAL LAW
Introduced by:
(GL)
AN ACT CONCERNING AL COHOLIC LIQUOR WHOLESALER
PERMITS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 30-17 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2019): 2
(a) (1) A wholesaler permit shall allow the bottling of alcoholic 3
liquor and the wholesale sale of alcoholic liquor to permittees in this 4
state and without the state, as may be permitted by law, and the sale of 5
alcoholic liquors to vessels engaged in coastwise or foreign commerce, 6
and the sale of alcohol and alcoholic liquor for industrial purposes to 7
nonpermittees, such sales to be made in accordance with the 8
regulations adopted by the Department of Consumer Protection, and 9
the sale of alcohol and alcoholic liquor for medicinal purposes to 10
hospitals and charitable institutions and to religious organizations for 11
sacramental purposes and the receipt from out-of-state shippers of 12
multiple packages of alcoholic liquor. The holder of a wholesaler 13
permit may apply for and shall thereupon receive an out-of-state 14
shipper's permit for direct importation from abroad of alcoholic 15 Raised Bill No. 7183
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liquors manufactured outside the United States and an out-of-state 16
shipper's permit for direct importation from abroad of beer 17
manufactured outside the United States. The annual fee for a 18
wholesaler permit shall be two thousand six hundred fifty dollars. 19
(2) When a holder of a wholesaler permit has had the 20
distributorship of any alcohol, beer, spirits or wine product of a 21
manufacturer or out-of-state shipper for six months or more, such 22
distributorship may be terminated or its geographic territory 23
diminished upon (A) the execution of a written stipulation by the 24
wholesaler and manufacturer or out-of-state shipper agreeing to the 25
change and the approval of such change by the Department of 26
Consumer Protection; or (B) the sending of a written notice by certified 27
or registered mail, return receipt requested, by the manufacturer or 28
out-of-state shipper to the wholesaler, a copy of which notice has been 29
sent simultaneously by certified or registered mail, return receipt 30
requested, to the Department of Consumer Protection. [No such 31
termination or diminishment shall become effective except for just and 32
sufficient cause, provided such cause shall be set forth in such notice 33
and the Department of Consumer Protection shall determine, after 34
hearing, that just and sufficient cause exists.] If an emergency occurs, 35
caused by the wholesaler, [prior to such hearing,] which threatens the 36
manufacturers' or out-of-state shippers' products or otherwise 37
endangers the business of the manufacturer or out-of-state shipper and 38
said emergency is established to the satisfaction of the Department of 39
Consumer Protection, the department may temporarily suspend such 40
wholesaler permit or take whatever reasonable action the department 41
deems advisable to provide for such emergency and the department 42
may continue such temporary action. [until its decision after a full 43
hearing. The Department of Consumer Protection shall render its 44
decision with reasonable promptness following such hearing. 45
Notwithstanding the aforesaid, a] A manufacturer or out-of-state 46
shipper may appoint one or more additional wholesalers as the 47
distributor for an alcohol, spirits, beer or wine product within such 48
territory, provided such appointment shall not be effective until [six] 49 Raised Bill No. 7183
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three months from the date such manufacturer or out-of-state shipper 50
sets forth such intention in written notice to the existing wholesaler by 51
certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, with a copy of 52
such notice simultaneously sent by certified or registered mail, return 53
receipt requested, to the Department of Consumer Protection. [For just 54
and sufficient cause, a] A manufacturer or out-of-state shipper may 55
appoint one or more additional wholesalers as the distributor for a 56
beer product within such territory provided such manufacturer or out-57
of-state shipper [sets forth such intention and cause in] provides 58
written notice to the existing wholesaler by certified or registered mail, 59
return receipt requested, with a copy of such notice simultaneously 60
sent by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, to the 61
Department of Consumer Protection. [For the purposes of this section, 62
"just and sufficient cause" means the existence of circumstances which, 63
in the opinion of a reasonable person considering all of the equities of 64
both the wholesaler and the manufacturer or out-of-state shipper 65
warrants a termination or a diminishment of a distributorship as the 66
case may be.] For the purposes of this section, "manufacturer or out-of-67
state shipper" means the manufacturer or out-of-state shipper who 68
originally granted a distributorship of any alcohol, beer, spirits or wine 69
product to a wholesaler, any successor to such manufacturer or out-of-70
state shipper, which successor has assumed the contractual 71
relationship with such wholesaler by assignment or otherwise, or any 72
other manufacturer or out-of-state shipper who acquires the right to 73
ship such alcohol, beer, spirits or wine into the state. 74
(3) Nothing contained herein shall be construed to interfere with the 75
authority of the Department of Consumer Protection to retain or adopt 76
reasonable regulations concerning the termination or diminishment of 77
a distributorship held by a wholesaler for less than six months. 78
[(4) All hearings held hereunder shall be held in accordance with 79
the provisions of chapter 54.] 80
(b) A wholesaler permit for beer shall be in all respects the same as a 81
wholesaler permit issued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, 82 Raised Bill No. 7183
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except that the scope of operations of the holder shall be limited to 83
beer; but shall not prohibit the handling of nonalcoholic merchandise. 84
The holder of a wholesaler permit for beer may apply for and shall 85
thereupon receive an out-of-state shipper's permit for direct 86
importation from abroad of beer manufactured outside the United 87
States. The annual fee for a wholesaler permit for beer shall be one 88
thousand dollars. 89
Sec. 2. Section 30-17a of the general statutes is repealed and the 90
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2019): 91
Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes to the 92
contrary, no wholesaler permittee that has the distributorship of any 93
alcohol, beer, spirits or wine product of a manufacturer or out-of-state 94
shipper shall refuse to sell any such alcohol, beer, spirits or wine to any 95
retail permittee, without regard to the location of such retail 96
permittee's place of business if (1) such retail permittee is willing to 97
accept delivery at such wholesaler permittee's place of distribution, (2) 98
such retail permittee meets any reasonable conditions imposed upon 99
other retail permittees located within such wholesaler permittee's 100
geographic territory and (3) the item of alcohol, beer, spirits or wine 101
sought by such retail permittee is not available from any wholesaler 102
permittee serving a geographic territory in which such retail 103
permittee's place of business is located or is only available from such a 104
wholesaler permittee at a higher price. Any agreement entered into on 105
or after June 8, 1981, which conflicts with the terms of this section shall 106
be void. As used in this section, the term "retail permittee" means the 107
holder of a permit allowing the sale of alcoholic liquor for on or off-108
premises consumption. 109
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 30-17
Sec. 2 July 1, 2019 30-17a
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Statement of Purpose:
To modernize Liquor Control Act provisions regarding alcoholic
liquor wholesaler permits.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]