Reference is to the bill as introduced.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by adding an appropriately numbered SECTION to read:
/ SECTION . Section 61-6-4160 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 61-6-4160.
(A) It is unlawful to sell
alcoholic liquors on Sunday except as authorized by
law, on Christmas Day, or during periods proclaimed by
the Governor in the interest of law and order or public morals
and decorum. Full authority to proclaim these periods is
conferred upon the Governor in addition to all his other powers.
It is unlawful for a retail dealer to sell alcoholic liquors
on Sunday except as authorized and provided for in subsections
(B) and (C).
(B) The
Department of Revenue may issue a permit to allow the sale of
alcoholic liquors on Sunday by a licensed retail dealer in a
county or municipality that authorizes the sale of alcoholic
liquors on Sunday in the manner provided in subsection (C). The
department shall charge a nonrefundable filing fee of one
hundred dollars for processing each application. The department
shall charge for an annual fifty-two week permit a nonrefundable
fee of three thousand dollars per year. However, the fifty-two
week permit must not extend beyond the expiration date of the
biennial license issued pursuant to this chapter. If the
expiration date is less than fifty-two weeks from the date of
the application for the fifty-two week permit, the department
shall prorate the three thousand dollar fee on a monthly basis.
The department in its sole discretion shall specify the terms
and conditions of the permit. The filing and permit fees must be
distributed by the State Treasurer to the municipality or county
in which the retailer who paid the fee is located.
(C)(1) A
permit authorized by this section may be issued only in those
counties or municipalities where a majority of the qualified
electors voting in a referendum vote in favor of the issuance of
the permit. The county or municipal election commission, as the
case may be, shall conduct a referendum upon petition of at
least ten percent but not more than seven thousand five hundred
qualified electors of the county or municipality, as the case
may be. The petition form must be submitted to the election
commission not less than one hundred twenty days before the date
of the referendum. The names on the petition must be on the
petition form provided to county election officials by the State
Election Commission. The names on the petition must be certified
by the election commission within sixty days after receiving the
petition form. The referendum must be conducted at the next
general election. The election commission shall cause a notice
to be published in a newspaper circulated in the county or
municipality, as the case may be, at least seven days before the
referendum. The state election laws must apply to the
referendum, mutatis mutandis. The election commission shall
publish the results of the referendum and certify them to the
South Carolina Department of Revenue. The question on the ballot
must be:
'Shall the South Carolina Department of
Revenue be authorized to issue permits to licensed retail
dealers in this (county) (municipality) to allow for the sale of
alcoholic liquors on Sunday in compliance with the provisions of
the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act?'
(2)
A referendum for this purpose may not be held
more often than once in forty-eight months.
(3)
The expenses for this purpose must be paid by
the county or municipality conducting the referendum.
(4)
In addition to the petition method of calling
the referendum provided for in this subsection, a county or
municipal governing body by ordinance also may call the
referendum. Upon receipt of a copy of the ordinance filed with
the county or municipal election commission at least sixty days
before the date of the next general election, the commission
shall conduct the referendum in the manner provided in this
section at that general election. The provisions of this item
are in addition to the authority of a municipal governing body
to call for a referendum under the circumstances enumerated in
subsection (C)(1).
(D)(1)
The municipal governing body may order a referendum on
the question of the issuance of permits to allow the sale of
alcoholic liquors in the following circumstances:
(a)
parts of the municipality are located in more
than one county;
(b)
as a result of a favorable vote in a county
referendum held pursuant to this section, permits may be issued
in only the parts of the municipality located in that county;
and
(c)
the proposed referendum would authorize issuance
of permits in the remaining parts of the municipality.
(2)
The method of ordering a referendum provided in
this subsection is in addition to the petition method provided
in subsection (C). An unfavorable vote in a municipal referendum
does not affect the authority to issue these permits in the part
of the municipality located in a county where these permits may
be issued.
(3)
Upon receipt of a copy of the ordinance filed
with the municipal election commission at least sixty days
before the date of the general election, the commission shall
conduct the referendum at the time of the general election and
publish and certify its results in the same manner as provided
in subsection (C).
(E)
Permits issued by the Department of Revenue pursuant to
this section may be issued in all parts of a municipality if any
part of the municipality is located in a county where the
issuance of these permits is allowed.
(F)(1)
For purposes of referendums held pursuant to this
section, 'general election' means a:
(a)
municipal general election held at a time other
than the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November of
even-numbered years; or
(b)
county general election held on the first
Tuesday following the first Monday in November of even-numbered
years.
(2)
A municipality that does not have a municipal
general election scheduled within the same calendar year as a
county general election may call, by ordinance, for a referendum
to be held on the same date as the county general election,
provided that a copy of the ordinance has been filed with the
county and municipal election commissions no later than the date
required by Section 7-13-355. The expenses for a referendum
ordered by a municipality must be paid by the municipality. When
a municipal referendum is held at the time of a county general
election, the referendum may be conducted by the municipal or
county election commission as provided for by an agreement
between the municipality and county.
(G) A person
who violates a provision of this section is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished as
follows:
(a)(1) for a
first offense, by a fine of two hundred dollars or imprisonment
for sixty days;
(b)(2) for a
second offense, by a fine of one thousand dollars or
imprisonment for one year; and
(c)(3) for a
third or subsequent offense, by a fine of two thousand dollars
or imprisonment for two years." \
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.