HLS 16RS-1096 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 893
BY REPRESENTATIVE THIBAUT
TOBACCO/TOBACCO PRODUCTS: Provides relative to tobacco dealers
1 AN ACT
2To amend and reenact R.S. 26:901(34) and 920(B) and (C), relative to the office of alcohol
3 and tobacco control; to provide for the definition of tobacco "wholesale dealers"; to
4 reduce the period within which to file appeals; to remove the authority to file
5 suspensive appeals; and to provide for related matters.
6Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
7 Section 1. R.S. 26:901(34) and 920(B) and (C) are hereby amended and reenacted
8to read as follows:
9 §901. Definitions
10 As used in this Chapter, the following terms have the meaning ascribed to
11 them in this Section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
12 * * *
13 (34) "Wholesale dealer" means a dealer whose principal business is that of
14 a wholesaler, who sells cigarettes, cigars, or other tobacco products to retail dealers
15 for purpose of resale, who is a bona fide wholesaler, and fifty percent of whose total
16 tobacco sales are to retail stores other than its own or those of its subsidiaries,
17 affiliates, or parent companies, within Louisiana. Wholesale dealer shall include any
18 person in the state who acquires cigarettes solely for the purpose of resale in vending
19 machines, provided such person services fifty or more cigarette vending machines
20 in Louisiana other than his own, and a Louisiana dealer who was affixing cigarette
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HB NO. 893
1 and tobacco stamps as of January 1, 1974. If any person is engaged in the business
2 of making sales at both wholesale and retail, "wholesaler" shall apply only to the
3 wholesale portion of the business.
4 * * *
5 §920. Appeal
6 * * *
7 B. Any party aggrieved by a decision of the commissioner to withhold,
8 suspend, or revoke a permit may, within thirty ten days of the notification of the
9 decision, take a devolutive or suspensive appeal to the district court having
10 jurisdiction of the applicant's or permittee's place of business, proposed or actual as
11 the case may be. Such appeals shall be filed in the district courts in the same manner
12 as original suits are instituted therein. The appeals shall be tried de novo. Either
13 party may amend and supplement his pleadings and additional witnesses may be
14 called and heard. When there has been a previous criminal prosecution for the same
15 or a similar act upon which the refusal, suspension, or revocation of a permit is being
16 considered, evidence of an acquittal, dismissal, or plea of nolo contendere in a court
17 of competent jurisdiction is admissible in the trial of the appeal.
18 C. Within thirty ten calendar days of the signing of the judgment by the
19 district court in any such appeal case, the commissioner or the applicant for a permit
20 or permittee, as the case may be, may file a devolutive or suspensive devolutively
21 appeal of the judgment to the appellate court of proper jurisdiction. These appeals
22 shall be perfected in the manner provided for in civil cases and shall be devolutive
23 or suspensive only. If the district court determines that the decision of the
24 commissioner in withholding, suspending, or revoking the permit was in error, the
25 decision of the commissioner shall not be voided if the commissioner takes an appeal
26 to the court of appeals in the time provided for suspensive appeals.
27 * * *
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are additions. HLS 16RS-1096 ORIGINAL
HB NO. 893
1 Section 2. This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2016; if vetoed by the governor
2and subsequently approved by the legislature, this Act shall become effective on July 1,
32016, or on the day following such approval by the legislature, whichever is later.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 893 Original 2016 Regular Session Thibaut
Abstract: Relative the definition of "wholesale dealer", includes affiliates and parent
companies in the limitation of sales to subsidiaries of the wholesale dealer, reduces
the time period to appeal a commissioner's or district court's decision, and removes
the authority to file a suspensive appeal.
Present law defines "wholesale dealer" as a dealer whose principal business is that of a
wholesaler, who sells cigarettes, cigars, or other tobacco products to retail dealers for
purpose of resale, who is a bona fide wholesaler, and 50% of whose total tobacco sales are
to retail stores other than its own or its subsidiaries within Louisiana.
Proposed law specifies that the limitation applied to 50% of the wholesale dealer's
subsidiaries includes its affiliates and parent companies within Louisiana.
Present law provides that any party aggrieved by a decision of the commissioner to withhold,
suspend, or revoke a permit may, within 30 days of the notification of the decision by the
commissioner, take a devolutive or suspensive appeal to the district court.
Proposed law reduces the delay to take an appeal of the commissioner's decision from 30
days to 10 days, and removes the authority to file a suspensive appeal.
Present law provides that the commissioner or the applicant for a permit or permittee may
file a devolutive or suspensive appeal of the district court's decision within 30 calendar days
of the signing of the judgment by the district court, and that the appeal of the judgment to
the appellate court shall be perfected in the manner provided for in civil cases and shall be
devolutive or suspensive only.
Proposed law reduces the delay to take an appeal of the district court's decision from 30 days
to 10 days, and removes the authority to file a suspensive appeal.
Effective July 1, 2016.
(Amends R.S. 26:901(34) and 920(B) and (C))
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