ASSEMBLY OVERSIGHT, REFORM AND FEDERAL
RELATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
[Second Reprint]
SENATE, No. 3944
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: MARCH 20, 2025
The Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations
Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate
Bill No. 3944 (2R).
As amended by the committee, this bill clarifies that holders of
plenary retail consumption licenses for nonprofit art house movie
theaters include disregarded entities of certain nonprofit corporations.
Specifically, the bill clarifies that nonprofit corporations eligible for
the license include “disregarded entities” that are single-member
limited liability corporations disregarded for federal income tax
purposes pursuant to 26 C.F.R. Part 301. Under current law, a plenary
retail consumption license allows for the sale of alcoholic beverages
for consumption on the licensed premises.
In addition, the amended bill allows a municipality to issue a
plenary retail consumption license to an eligible business entity for use
in connection with certain “community theaters.” Under the bill, the
license holder would be entitled to sell alcoholic beverages for
consumption on the licensed premises only during the one hour
immediately preceding a performance and during performances,
including intermission. The bill defines “community theater” as a
theater that is used for the purpose of showing performances of motion
pictures, musical concerts, theatrical plays, dance recitals, literature
readings or other artistic or cultural exhibitions and is owned and
operated by an eligible business entity.
Under the bill, the license may only be used in connection with a
community theater in which the space or spaces within a premises
used for showing performances:
of musical concerts, theatrical plays, dance recitals, literature
readings or other artistic or cultural exhibitions contain one or
more stages with viewer seating areas having a total seating
capacity of at least 50 persons but not more than 1,000 persons
and do not contain any movie screens for showing
performances of motion pictures; 2
of motion pictures contain no more than five movie screens
with viewer seating areas having a total seating capacity of at
least 50 persons but not more than 600 persons; or
having a total seating capacity of at least 50 persons but not
more than 1,500 persons, containing at least one but not more
than five movie screens for showing motion pictures, and
containing at least one stage for showing musical concerts,
theatrical plays, dance recitals, literature readings or other
artistic or cultural exhibitions. The seating capacity of the
viewer seating areas located in the space or spaces with a stage
or stages are to constitute at least 25 percent of the total seating
capacity.
As reported by the committee, Senate Bill No. 3944 (3R) is
identical to Assembly Bill No. 5125 (1R), which was also reported by
the committee on this date.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS :
The committee amended the bill to revise the qualifying number of
movie screens for which a community theater would be eligible to
receive a plenary consumption license from three movie screens to five
movie screens.