Bill Text: MS SB2906 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Beer; authorize manufacture of beer of more than 5% by weight for sale in another state.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2011-02-01 - Died In Committee [SB2906 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2011-SB2906-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Finance
By: Senator(s) Baria
Senate Bill 2906
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 67-3-1, 67-3-5, 67-3-7, 67-3-13, 67-3-17 AND 67-3-49, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE TRANSPORTATION, STORAGE, SALE, DISTRIBUTION, POSSESSION, RECEIVING, AND/OR MANUFACTURING OF BEER OF AN ALCOHOLIC CONTENT OF MORE THAN 5% BY WEIGHT, IF THE BEER IS MANUFACTURED TO BE SOLD LEGALLY IN ANOTHER STATE AND IS TRANSPORTED OUTSIDE OF THIS STATE FOR RETAIL SALE; TO AMEND SECTION 67-1-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 67-3-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
67-3-1. The purpose of this chapter is to legalize the * * * sale within this state of light wines and beer of an alcoholic content of not more than five percent (5%) by weight, to legalize the manufacture of beer, and to regulate the business of manufacturing and of selling such liquors so as to prevent the illicit manufacture, sale and consumption of liquors having an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight, the manufacture and sale of which it is not the purpose of this chapter to legalize.
SECTION 2. Section 67-3-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
67-3-5. (1) Subject to the provisions set forth in this chapter, it shall be lawful * * * in this state to transport, store, sell, distribute, possess, receive, and/or manufacture wine and beer of an alcoholic content of not more than five percent (5%) by weight, and it is hereby declared that it is the legislative intent that this chapter privileges the lawful sale and manufacture, within this state, of such light wines and beer. In determining if a wine product is "light wine," or contains an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight, or is not an "alcoholic beverage" as defined in the Local Option Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, Chapter 1 of Title 67, Mississippi Code of 1972, the alcoholic content of such wine product shall be subject to the same permitted tolerance as is allowed by the labeling requirements for light wine provided for in Section 27-71-509.
(2) Subject to the provisions set forth in this chapter, it shall be lawful in this state to transport, store, sell, distribute, possess, receive, and/or manufacture beer of an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight, if the beer is manufactured to be sold legally in another state and is transported outside of this state for retail sale.
SECTION 3. Section 67-3-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
67-3-7. (1) If any county, at an election held for the purpose under the election laws of the state, shall by a majority vote of the duly qualified electors voting in the election determine that the transportation, storage, sale, distribution, receipt and/or manufacture of wine and beer of an alcoholic content of not more than five percent (5%) by weight shall not be permitted in such county, then the it shall not be permitted in the county except as authorized under Section 67-9-1 and as may be otherwise authorized in this chapter. An election to determine whether the transportation, storage, sale, distribution, receipt and/or manufacture of the beverages shall be excluded from any county in the state, shall on a petition of twenty percent (20%) of the duly qualified electors of such county, be ordered by the board of supervisors thereof, for such county only. No election on the question shall be held in any one county more often than once in five (5) years.
In counties which have elected, or may elect by a majority vote of the duly qualified electors voting in the election, that the transportation, storage, sale, distribution, receipt and/or manufacture of wine or beer of an alcoholic content of not more than five percent (5%) by weight shall not be permitted in the county, an election may be held in the same manner as the election hereinabove provided for in subsection (1) of this section on the question of whether or not the transportation, storage, sale, distribution, receipt and/or manufacture of the beverages shall be permitted in the county. Such election shall be ordered by the board of supervisors of such county on a petition of twenty percent (20%) of the duly qualified electors of such county. No election on this question can be ordered more often than once in five (5) years.
(2) Nothing in this section shall make it unlawful to possess beer or wine, as defined in this chapter, in any municipality which has heretofore or which may hereafter vote in an election, pursuant to Section 67-3-9, in which a majority of the qualified electors vote in favor of permitting the sale and the receipt, storage and transportation for the purpose of sale of beer or wine as defined in this chapter.
(3) Nothing in this section shall make it unlawful to:
(a) Possess or consume light wine or beer at a qualified resort area as defined in Section 67-1-5.
(b) Sell, distribute and transport light wine or beer to a qualified resort area as defined in Section 67-1-5.
(c) Sell light wine or beer at a qualified resort area as defined in Section 67-1-5 if such light wine or beer is sold by a person with a permit to engage in the business as a retailer of light wine or beer.
(d) Transport beer of an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight if it is being transported to another state for legal sale in that state.
SECTION 4. Section 67-3-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
67-3-13. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter and as authorized under this section and Section 67-9-1, in any county which has at any time since February 26, 1934, elected, or which may hereafter elect, to prohibit the transportation, storage, sale, distribution, receipt and/or manufacture of wine and beer of an alcoholic content of not more than four percent (4%) by weight in such county, it is hereby declared to be unlawful to possess those beverages in the county. In any county which, after July 1, 1998, elects to prohibit the transportation, storage, sale, distribution, receipt and/or manufacture of wine and beer of an alcoholic content of not more than five percent (5%) by weight in such county, it is hereby declared to be unlawful to possess those beverages in the county. Any person found possessing any beer or wine of any quantity whatsoever in that county shall, on conviction, be imprisoned not more than ninety (90) days or fined not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or be both so fined and imprisoned.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, in any county or municipality in which the transportation, storage, sale, distribution, receipt and/or manufacture of light wine and beer is prohibited, it shall not be unlawful for a permitted wholesaler or distributor to possess light wine and beer when such light wine and beer is held in the county or municipality solely for the purpose of storage and for distribution to other counties and municipalities in which possession of such beverages is lawful.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section, in any county in which transportation, storage, sale, distribution, receipt and/or manufacture of light wine and beer is prohibited, it shall not be unlawful:
(a) To receive, store, possess or consume light wine or beer at a resort area as defined in Section 67-1-5.
(b) To distribute and transport light wine or beer to a resort area as defined in Section 67-1-5.
(c) To transport beer of an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight if it is being transported to another state for legal sale in that state.
SECTION 5. Section 67-3-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
67-3-17. Any person desiring to engage in any business taxable under Sections 27-71-303 through 27-71-317, Mississippi Code of 1972, either as a retailer, or as a wholesaler or distributor, or as a manufacturer, of light wines or beer, shall file with the commissioner an application for a permit allowing him to engage in that business. The application for a permit shall be filed on a blank to be furnished by the commissioner for that purpose, and shall contain a statement showing the name of the business, and if a partnership, firm or association, the name of each partner or member, and if a corporation the names of two (2) principal officers, the post office address, and the nature of business in which engaged. In case any business is conducted at two (2) or more separate places, a separate permit for each place of business shall be required.
The applicant, at the time of filing the application for a permit or license to engage in that business, shall also file with the commissioner an oath, duly subscribed and sworn to by him before an officer authorized to administer oaths, that he will not, except as otherwise authorized in this chapter, allow any intoxicating liquor as defined by this chapter, including beer, wine and distilled spirits, or alcoholic, malt, or vinous liquors including beer and wine, having an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight, to be kept, stored or secreted in or on the premises described in the permit or license, and that the applicant will not otherwise violate any law of this state, or knowingly allow any other person to violate any * * * law of this state, while in or on the premises.
Each application or filing made under this section shall include the social security number(s) of the applicant in accordance with Section 93-11-64, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 6. Section 67-3-49, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
67-3-49. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, it shall be unlawful for any brewer or manufacturer or distributor or wholesale dealer of or in light wines and/or beer to manufacture or knowingly bring upon his premises or keep thereon any beer or wine of an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight, or any distilled spirits of any alcoholic content whatsoever. Any person that shall add to or mix with any beer or light wine any alcoholic or other liquid, or any alcohol cube or cubes, or any other ingredient or ingredients that will increase or tend to increase the alcoholic content of such liquor, or any person that shall knowingly offer for sale any liquor so treated, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished as * * * provided in this chapter. The commissioner shall take any action he considers necessary to ensure that light wine and/or beer manufactured at a brewpub complies with the provisions of this section.
(2) A brewer or manufacturer of light wine or beer may manufacture and keep upon his premises beer of an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight if the beer is manufactured for legal sale in another state.
SECTION 7. Section 67-1-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
67-1-5. For the purposes of this chapter and unless otherwise required by the context:
(a) "Alcoholic beverage" means any alcoholic liquid, including wines of more than five percent (5%) of alcohol by weight, capable of being consumed as a beverage by a human being, but shall not include wine containing five percent (5%) or less of alcohol by weight and shall not include beer containing not more than five percent (5%) of alcohol by weight, as provided for in Section 67-3-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, but shall include native wines. The words "alcoholic beverage" shall not include ethyl alcohol manufactured or distilled solely for fuel purposes or beer of an alcoholic content of more than five percent (5%) by weight if the beer is legally manufactured in this state for sale in another state.
(b) "Alcohol" means the product of distillation of any fermented liquid, whatever the origin thereof, and includes synthetic ethyl alcohol, but does not include denatured alcohol or wood alcohol.
(c) "Distilled spirits" means any beverage containing more than four percent (4%) of alcohol by weight produced by distillation of fermented grain, starch, molasses or sugar, including dilutions and mixtures of these beverages.
(d) "Wine" or "vinous liquor" means any product obtained from the alcoholic fermentation of the juice of sound, ripe grapes, fruits or berries and made in accordance with the revenue laws of the United States.
(e) "Person" means and includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association or other legal entity whatsoever.
(f) "Manufacturer" means any person engaged in manufacturing, distilling, rectifying, blending or bottling any alcoholic beverage.
(g) "Wholesaler" means any person, other than a manufacturer, engaged in distributing or selling any alcoholic beverage at wholesale for delivery within or without this state when such sale is for the purpose of resale by the purchaser.
(h) "Retailer" means any person who sells, distributes, or offers for sale or distribution, any alcoholic beverage for use or consumption by the purchaser and not for resale.
(i) "State Tax Commission," "commission" or "department" means the Department of Revenue of the State of Mississippi, which shall create a division in its organization to be known as the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. Any reference to the commission or the department hereafter means the powers and duties of the Department of Revenue with reference to supervision of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division.
(j) "Division" means the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the Department of Revenue.
(k) "Municipality" means any incorporated city or town of this state.
(l) "Hotel" means an establishment within a municipality, or within a qualified resort area approved as such by the department, where, in consideration of payment, food and lodging are habitually furnished to travelers and wherein are located at least twenty (20) adequately furnished and completely separate sleeping rooms with adequate facilities that persons usually apply for and receive as overnight accommodations. Hotels in towns or cities of more than twenty-five thousand (25,000) population are similarly defined except that they must have fifty (50) or more sleeping rooms. Any such establishment described in this paragraph with less than fifty (50) beds shall operate one or more regular dining rooms designed to be constantly frequented by customers each day. When used in this chapter, the word "hotel" shall also be construed to include any establishment that meets the definition of "bed-and-breakfast inn" as provided in this section.
(m) "Restaurant" means a place which is regularly and in a bona fide manner used and kept open for the serving of meals to guests for compensation, which has suitable seating facilities for guests, and which has suitable kitchen facilities connected therewith for cooking an assortment of foods and meals commonly ordered at various hours of the day; the service of such food as sandwiches and salads only shall not be deemed in compliance with this requirement. No place shall qualify as a restaurant under this chapter unless twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the revenue derived from such place shall be from the preparation, cooking and serving of meals and not from the sale of beverages, or unless the value of food given to and consumed by customers is equal to twenty-five percent (25%) or more of total revenue.
(n) "Club" means an association or a corporation:
(i) Organized or created under the laws of this state for a period of five (5) years prior to July 1, 1966;
(ii) Organized not primarily for pecuniary profit but for the promotion of some common object other than the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages;
(iii) Maintained by its members through the payment of annual dues;
(iv) Owning, hiring or leasing a building or space in a building of such extent and character as may be suitable and adequate for the reasonable and comfortable use and accommodation of its members and their guests;
(v) The affairs and management of which are conducted by a board of directors, board of governors, executive committee, or similar governing body chosen by the members at a regular meeting held at some periodic interval; and
(vi) No member, officer, agent or employee of which is paid, or directly or indirectly receives, in the form of a salary or other compensation any profit from the distribution or sale of alcoholic beverages to the club or to members or guests of the club beyond such salary or compensation as may be fixed and voted at a proper meeting by the board of directors or other governing body out of the general revenues of the club.
The department may, in its discretion, waive the five-year provision of this paragraph. In order to qualify under this paragraph, a club must file with the department, at the time of its application for a license under this chapter, two (2) copies of a list of the names and residences of its members and similarly file, within ten (10) days after the election of any additional member, his name and address. Each club applying for a license shall also file with the department at the time of the application a copy of its articles of association, charter of incorporation, bylaws or other instruments governing the business and affairs thereof.
(o) "Qualified resort area" means any area or locality outside of the limits of incorporated municipalities in this state commonly known and accepted as a place which regularly and customarily attracts tourists, vacationists and other transients because of its historical, scenic or recreational facilities or attractions, or because of other attributes which regularly and customarily appeal to and attract tourists, vacationists and other transients in substantial numbers; however, no area or locality shall so qualify as a resort area until it has been duly and properly approved as such by the department.
(i) The department may approve an area or locality outside of the limits of an incorporated municipality that is in the process of being developed as a qualified resort area if such area or locality, when developed, can reasonably be expected to meet the requisites of the definition of the term "qualified resort area." In such a case, the status of qualified resort area shall not take effect until completion of the development.
(ii) The term includes any state park which is declared a resort area by the department; however, such declaration may only be initiated in a written request for resort area status made to the department by the Executive Director of the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and no permit for the sale of any alcoholic beverage, as defined in this chapter, except an on-premises retailer's permit, shall be issued for a hotel, restaurant or bed-and-breakfast inn in such park.
(iii) The term includes:
1. The clubhouses associated with the state park golf courses at the Lefleur's Bluff State Park, the John Kyle State Park, the Percy Quin State Park and the Hugh White State Park;
2. The clubhouse and associated golf course where the golf course is adjacent to one or more planned residential developments and the golf course and all such developments collectively include at least seven hundred fifty (750) acres and at least four hundred (400) residential units;
3. Any facility located on property that is a game reserve with restricted access that consists of at least three thousand (3,000) contiguous acres with no public roads and that offers as a service hunts for a fee to overnight guests of the facility;
4. Any facility located on federal property surrounding a lake and designated as a recreational area by the United States Army Corps of Engineers that consists of at least one thousand five hundred (1,500) acres;
5. Any facility that is located in a municipality that is bordered by the Pearl River, traversed by Mississippi Highway 25, adjacent to the boundaries of the Jackson International Airport and is located in a county which has voted against coming out from under the dry law; however, any such facility may only be located in areas designated by the governing authorities of such municipality;
6. Any municipality with a population in excess of ten thousand (10,000) according to the latest federal decennial census that is located in a county that is bordered by the Pearl River and is not traversed by Interstate Highway 20, with a population in excess of forty-five thousand (45,000) according to the latest federal decennial census;
7. The West Pearl Restaurant Tax District as defined in Chapter 912, Local and Private Laws of 2007.
The status of these municipalities, districts, clubhouses, facilities and golf courses described in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph (o) as qualified resort areas does not require any declaration of same by the department.
(p) "Native wine" means any product, produced in Mississippi for sale, having an alcohol content not to exceed twenty-one percent (21%) by weight and made in accordance with revenue laws of the United States, which shall be obtained primarily from the alcoholic fermentation of the juice of ripe grapes, fruits, berries or vegetables grown and produced in Mississippi; provided that bulk, concentrated or fortified wines used for blending may be produced without this state and used in producing native wines. The department shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to permit a producer to import such bulk and/or fortified wines into this state for use in blending with native wines without payment of any excise tax that would otherwise accrue thereon.
(q) "Native winery" means any place or establishment within the State of Mississippi where native wine is produced in whole or in part for sale.
(r) "Bed-and-breakfast inn" means an establishment within a municipality where in consideration of payment, breakfast and lodging are habitually furnished to travelers and wherein are located not less than eight (8) and not more than nineteen (19) adequately furnished and completely separate sleeping rooms with adequate facilities, that persons usually apply for and receive as overnight accommodations; however, such restriction on the minimum number of sleeping rooms shall not apply to establishments on the National Register of Historic Places. No place shall qualify as a bed-and-breakfast inn under this chapter unless on the date of the initial application for a license under this chapter more than fifty percent (50%) of the sleeping rooms are located in a structure formerly used as a residence.
(s) "Board" shall refer to Board of Tax Appeals of the State of Mississippi.
(t) "Spa facility" means an establishment within a municipality or qualified resort area and owned by a hotel where, in consideration of payment, patrons receive from licensed professionals a variety of private personal care treatments such as massages, facials, waxes, exfoliation and hairstyling.
(u) "Art studio or gallery" means an establishment within a municipality or qualified resort area, that is in the sole business of allowing patrons to view and/or purchase paintings and other creative artwork.
(v) "Cooking school" means an establishment within a municipality or qualified resort area and owned by a nationally recognized company that offers an established culinary education curriculum and program where, in consideration of payment, patrons are given scheduled professional group instruction on culinary techniques. For purposes of this paragraph, the definition of cooking school shall not include schools or classes offered by grocery stores, convenience stores or drugstores.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2011.
