To protect the health, safety, and morals of the residents of this State, the issuance of retail dealer licenses must be governed pursuant to the following requirements to promote adequate law enforcement, regulatory measures, health care costs, and associated impacts on the health, safety, and welfare of the state's residents resulting from the anticipated sales of liquor, and to curb relationships and practices calculated to stimulate sales and impair the state's policy favoring trade stability and the promotion of temperance, in determining whether a political subdivision is adequately served pursuant to Section 61-6-170, and to provide for an orderly provision of retail dealer licenses:

(1) The department shall not issue more than three retail dealer licenses to one licensee, and the licensee must be eligible for a license for each store pursuant to Section 61-6-110.

(2) The limitation of no more than three retail dealer licenses to one licensee does not apply to a person having an interest in retail liquor stores as of July 1, 1978.

(3)(a) A licensee may be issued up to an additional three retail dealer licenses under the conditions provided in this item. Additional retail dealer licenses issued pursuant to this item must be for retail locations in counties with populations in excess of two hundred fifty thousand residents. Licensees issued a retail dealer license pursuant to this subitem may not operate more than two stores in a county with a population in excess of two hundred fifty thousand residents.

(b) A licensee who as of March 21, 2018, operates three retail dealer licensed stores within a county with a population in excess of two hundred fifty thousand residents may be issued two additional retail dealer licenses under subitem (a) to operate in that county.

HISTORY: 2018 Act No. 147 (H.4729), Section 2, eff April 4, 2018.

Editor's Note

2018 Act No. 147, Sections 1, 6, and 8, provide as follows:

"SECTION 1. The General Assembly finds and declares that:

"(A) The State has a substantial interest in exercising its powers and the powers granted to the State by the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and in regulating alcoholic liquors, including the activities of manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers; the number and localities of retail dealer licenses; and the influences that affect the consumption levels of alcoholic liquors by the people of the State.

"(B) The state's police power to regulate the business of retail liquor sales in the manner and to the extent allowed by law including, but not limited to, Section 1, Article VIII-A of the South Carolina Constitution, 1895, includes regulating the number and localities of retail dealer licenses that a person may be issued and regulating what wholesalers may deliver to persons licensed to sell alcoholic liquors for on-premises consumption, processes that affect the health, safety, and morals of the State.

"(C) The public policy of this State and the legislative purpose of this act is to:

"(1) strictly regulate alcoholic liquors to protect the health of this State and its residents. Excessive use of alcohol has wide ranging deleterious health effects, including death. The General Assembly acknowledges that, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control, during the period from 2006-2010 an average of 1,539 of this state's residents suffered alcohol attributed deaths due to excessive alcohol use and the rate of binge drinking in this State is ranked among the highest in the nation;

"(2) strictly regulate alcoholic liquors to protect the safety of this State and its residents. The General Assembly acknowledges that, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this State had three hundred thirty-one alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in 2016, which accounted for thirty-three percent of the total traffic fatalities in the State. Attributed deaths due to alcohol-impaired driving in this State is ranked among the highest in the nation;

"(3) strictly regulate alcoholic liquors to protect the morals of this State and its residents by fostering moderation and responsibility in the use and consumption of alcoholic liquors. The General Assembly recognizes the prevalence of scientific data compiled by the Community Prevention Services Task Force establishing a positive association between outlet density, including the number of retail liquor stores, and excessive alcohol consumption and related harms and further concurs with the task force's recommendation to limit outlet density in the effort to address those problems;

"(4) protect the collection of state taxes imposed upon alcoholic liquors;

"(5) protect the interests of consumers against fraud and misleading practices in the sale of alcoholic liquors and avoid problems associated with indiscriminate price cutting and excessive advertising of alcoholic liquors;

"(6) provide a framework for the sale of alcoholic liquors that recognizes and encourages the beneficial aspects of competition and to prevent monopolies;

"(7) maintain trade stability and provide for the continuation of control and orderly processing by the State over the number and locations of retail liquor stores;

"(8) prevent the concentration of retail liquor stores in close proximity thereby affecting the health and morals of the State;

"(9) prohibit discrimination in the sale of alcoholic liquors to retail licensees."

"SECTION 6. (A)(1) Until May 31, 2018, the department shall not issue more than three retail dealer licenses to one licensee, and the licensee must be eligible for a license for each store pursuant to Section 61-6-110.

"(2) The limitation of no more than three retail dealer licenses to one licensee does not apply to a person having an interest in retail liquor stores as of July 1, 1978. Additional retail dealer licenses may be issued to that person as provided in this section.

"(B) Beginning June 1, 2018, no more than four retail dealer licenses may be issued to one licensee, and the licensee must be eligible for each license for each store pursuant to Section 61-6-110.

"(C) Beginning June 1, 2020, no more than five retail dealer licenses may be issued to one licensee, and the licensee must be eligible for each license for each store pursuant to Section 61-6-110.

"(D) Beginning June 1, 2022, no more than six retail dealer licenses may be issued to one licensee, and the licensee must be eligible for each license for each store pursuant to Section 61-6-110."

"SECTION 8. Pursuant to the terms of this act, the Department of Revenue, in order to conform to the terms of this act, is directed to reconsider the application for the privilege of a retail dealer license and any approval or denial for the privilege of a retail dealer license issued between April 5, 2018, and the effective date of this act."