33:1-25 Issuance of license, application, qualifications; criminal record background check, fee.

33:1-25. No license of any class shall be issued to any person under the age of 18 years or to any person who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. A beneficiary of a trust who is not otherwise disqualified to hold an interest in a license may qualify regardless of age so long as the trustee of the trust qualifies and the trustee shall hold the beneficiary's interest in trust until the beneficiary is at least the age of majority.

Each applicant shall submit to the director the applicant's name, address, fingerprints and written consent for a criminal history record background check to be performed. The director is authorized to receive criminal history record information from the State Bureau of Identification in the Division of State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation consistent with applicable State and federal laws, rules and regulations. The applicant shall bear the cost for the criminal history record background check, including all costs of administering and processing the check. The Division of State Police shall promptly notify the director in the event a current holder of a license or prospective applicant, who was the subject of a criminal history record background check pursuant to this section, is arrested for a crime or offense in this State after the date the background check was performed.

In applications by corporations, except for club licenses, the names and addresses of, and the amount of stock held by, all stockholders holding 1% or more of any of the stock thereof, and the names and addresses of all officers and of all members of the board of directors must be stated in the application, and if one or more of the officers or members of the board of directors or one or more of the owners, directly or indirectly, of more than 10% of the stock would fail to qualify as an individual applicant in all respects, no license of any class shall be granted.

In applications for club licenses, the names and addresses of all officers, trustees, directors, or other governing official, together with the names and addresses of all members of the corporation, association or organization, must be stated in the application.

In applications by partnerships, the application shall contain the names and addresses of all of the partners. No license shall be issued unless all of the partners would qualify as individual applicants.

A photostatic copy of all federal permits necessary to the lawful conduct of the business for which a State license is sought and which relate to alcoholic beverages, or other evidence in lieu thereof satisfactory to the director, must accompany the license application, together with a deposit of the full amount of the required license fee, which deposit to the extent of 90% thereof shall be returned to the applicant by the director or other issuing authority if the application is denied, and the remaining 10% shall constitute an investigation fee and be accounted for as other license fees.

Every applicant for a license that is not a renewal of an annual license shall cause a notice of the making of the application to be published in a form prescribed by rules and regulations, once per week for two weeks successively in a newspaper printed in the English language, published and circulated in the municipality in which the licensed premises are located; but if there shall be no such newspaper, then the notice shall be published in a newspaper, printed in the English language, published and circulated in the county in which the licensed premises are located. No publication shall be required with respect to applications for transportation or public warehouse licenses or with respect to applications for renewal of licenses.

The Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control shall cause a general notice of the making of annual renewal applications and the manner in which members of the public may object to the approving of the applications to be published in a form prescribed by rules and regulations, once per week from the week of April 1 through the week of June 1 in a newspaper printed in the English language published and circulated in the counties in which the premises of applicants for renewals of annual licenses are located. Any application for the renewal of an annual license shall be made by May 1, and none shall be approved before May 1.

Every person filing an application for license, renewal of license or transfer of license with a municipal issuing authority shall, within 10 days of such filing, file with the director a copy of the application together with a nonreturnable filing fee of $200.

Applicants for licenses shall answer questions as may be asked and make declarations as shall be required by the form of application for license as may be promulgated by the director from time to time. All applications shall be duly sworn to by each of the applicants, except in the case of applicants in the military service of the United States whose applications may be signed in their behalf by an attorney-in-fact holding a power of attorney in form approved by the director, and except in cases of applications by corporations which shall be duly sworn to by the president or vice-president. All statements in the applications required to be made by law or by rules and regulations shall be deemed material, and any person who shall knowingly misstate any material fact, under oath, in the application shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Fraud, misrepresentation, false statements, misleading statements, evasions or suppression of material facts in the securing of a license are grounds for suspension or revocation of the license.

The provisions of section 26 of P.L.2003, c.117 amendatory of this section shall apply to licenses issued or transferred on or after July 1, 2003, and to license renewals commencing on or after July 1, 2003.

Amended 1941, c.97; 1942, c.249; 1943, c.46; 1960, c.117; 1970, c.77, s.2; 1973, c.14, s.1; 1975, c.99; 1976, c.44, s.5; 1992, c.188, s.3; 2003, c.117, s.26; 2003, c.199, s.18; 2008, c.56.