§60-3A-7. Market zones; Class A and Class B retail licenses.
(a) The market zones established by the board for the retail sale of liquor within this state under the enactment of this section in 1990 may not be modified by the board unless authorized by the Legislature. For each market zone established by the board, the commissioner may issue one or more Class A retail licenses and one or more Class B retail licenses within the market zone: Provided, That the number of Class B retail licenses to be issued by the commissioner within a market zone shall not exceed one hundred fifty percent of the number of Class A retail outlets authorized for that market zone, except as otherwise authorized by subsection (d) of this section or section twenty-seven-a of this article: Provided, however, That, except as authorized by subsection (d) of this section or section twenty-seven-a of this article, in a market zone where the number of Class A retail licenses issued by the commissioner is an odd number, the number of Class B retail licenses which may be issued in that market zone shall be rounded up to the next highest whole number following that number which is equal to one hundred fifty percent of the number of Class A retail licenses issued by the commissioner: Provided, That for the ten-year period beginning July 1, 2010, the number of Class B retail licenses which are available for bid in a market zone shall not be less than the number of mixed retail outlets located in that market zone as of October 31, 2009.
(b) When authorizing Class B retail licenses for a market zone, the board may create one or more designated areas within the market zone and authorize one Class B retail license for each designated area. For each market zone, the commissioner may issue additional Class B retail licenses for retail outlets to be located outside any designated area, but the number of additional Class B retail licenses, when added to the total number of Class B retail licenses issued for all designated areas within the market zone, shall not exceed the maximum number of Class B retail licenses permitted under subsection (a) of this section for that market zone, except as authorized by subsection (d) of this section or section twenty-seven-a of this article.
(c) A person may hold one or more Class A retail licenses and one or more Class B retail licenses in a market zone or zones.
(d) Notwithstanding any provision of subsection (a) or (b) of this section, no later than thirty days prior to the receipt of the bids described in section ten-b of this article, the board may authorize the commissioner to issue additional Class B retail licenses in a market zone for the ten-year period which begins next following July 1, where the board determines that:
(1) Each retail outlet authorized to operate in the market zone has been open and in operation for not less than one year;
(2) Economic and demographic factors clearly demonstrate the need for an additional retail outlet or outlets within the market zone to meet consumer demand; and
(3) The issuance of an additional Class B license in the market zone will not significantly impair the efforts to procure the revenues described in subsection (b), section ten-b of this article.
(e) The board shall establish the minimum bid for any additional Class B retail licenses authorized under subsection (d) of this section.
(f) No person may hold a combination of Class A or Class B retail licenses that, in the aggregate, authorizes the operation of more than thirty percent of the total number of retail outlets authorized under the provisions of this article to operate in this state.
