CHAPTER 523

An Act to amend and reenact § 4-81, as amended, of the Code of Virginia,
relating to the granting of and refusal to grant licenses by the Vir-
ginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, so as to provide certain stand-
ards or grounds upon which the Board may refuse to grant such

licenses.
(S 288]
Approved March 30, 1956

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 4-31, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 4-31. (a) The Board * may refuse to grant any license mentioned
in this chapter if it shall * have reasonable cause to believe: .

(1) That the applicant *, or if the applicant is a partnership or asso-
ciation, any partner or member thereof, or if the applicant is a corporation,
any officer, director, or manager thereof or shareholder owning ten per
centum or more of its capital stock:

(a) Is not twenty-one years of age or older.

(b) Has been convicted of a felony under the laws of any state, or of
the United States, or has been convicted of any crime or offense involving
moral turpitude.

(c) Has been convicted, within the five years next preceding the date
of the application for such license, of a violation of any law applicable
to the manufacture, transportation, possession, use or sale of alcoholic bev-
erages, or has been convicted of a violation of any provision of Chap 2
of this Title 4.

(ad) Is not a person of good moral character and repute. .

(e) Is not the legitimate owner of the business proposed to be licensed,
or other persons have ownership interests in the business which have not
been disclosed. oo

(f) Is not possessed of or has not demonstrated financial responsibility
sufficient to meet adequately the requirements of the business proposed to
be licensed. ; .

(g) Has maintained a noisy, lewd, disorderly or unsanitary establish-

t

(h) Has demonstrated, either by his police record or by his record
as a former licensee of the Board, a lack of respect for law and order.

(i) Is unable to speak, understand, read, and write the English lan-
guage in a reasonably satisfactory manner.

(j) Is a person to whom alcoholic beverages may not be sold under
the provisions of this chapter.

(k) Has the general reputation of drinking alcoholic beverages to ex-
cess, or is addicted to the use of narcotics. .

; (l) Has misrepresented a material fact in applying to the Board for a
icense.

(m) Is violating or allowing the violation of any provision of this
chapter or of Chapter 2 of this Title 4 in his establishment at the time his
application for a license is pending.

(n) Is a police officer with police authority in the political subdivision
within which thé establishment designated in the application is located.

(o) Is physically unable to carry on the business for which the appli-
cation for a license is filed or has been adjudicated incompetent.

(2) That the place to be occupied by the applicant * :

(a) Does not conform to the requirements of the governing body of
the county, city, or town in which such place is located with respect to sant-
tation, health, construction, or equipment, or to any similar requirements
established by the laws of this State or by the regulations of the Board.

(b) Is so located that violations of this chapter, or of the rules and
regulations of the Board, or the laws of the Commonwealth or ordinances
of such county, city, or town relating to peace and good order would re-
sult from the issuance of such license and operation thereunder by the
applicant.

(c) Is so situated with respect to any church, synagogue, hospital,
public, private or parochial school, college or university, public or private
playground or other similar recreational facilities, or any state, local or
Federal government-onerated facility, that the operation of such place
under such license will adversely affect or interfere with the normal, or-
derly conduct of the affairs of such facilities or institutions.

(d) Is so situated with respect to any residence or residential area
that the operation of such place under such license will adversely affect real
property values or substantially interfere with the usual quietude and
tranquility of such residence or residential area.
CH. 523] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 155

. (e) Under a retail on-premises license is so constructed, arranged, or
tlluminated that law enforcement officers and duly authorized agents of the
Board are prevented from ready access to and reasonable observation of
ll or rooms within which alcoholic beverages are to be sold or con-
sumed.
For the purposes of this subsection (2) “place” shall mean the
real estate, together with any buildings or other improvements thereon,
designated in the application for a license as the place at which the manu-
facture, bottling, distribution, use or sale of alcoholic beverages shall be
performed, except that portion of any such building or other improvement
actually and exclusively used as a private residence as defined in § 4-2.

(3) That * the number of licenses existent in the locality is such that
the granting of a license is detrimental to the interest, morals, safety, or
welfare of the public, and, in reaching a conclusion in this respect the
Board may consider the character of, the population of, the number of
similar licenses and the number of all licenses existent in the particular
county, city or town and the immediate neighborhood concerned, and the
effect which a new license may have on such county, city, town or neigh-
porngay in conformity with the purposes of the Alcoholic Beverage Con-

rol Act.

(4) That * there exists any law, ordinance, or regulation of the United
States, of this State or any political subdivision thereof, which warrants
refusal by the Board to issue any license.

(5) That the Board is not authorized and empowered under the pro-
visions of this chapter to issue such license.

(b) The Board shall not refuse to grant any such license, except
upon a hearing held after ten days’ notice to the applicant of the time and
place of such hearing, which notice shall contain a statement of the ob-
jections to granting such license, and shall be served on the applicant as
other notices are served or by sending the same to the applicant by regis-
tered mail to his last known post office address. The applicant shall have
the right to produce evidence in his behalf at the hearing and be repre-
sented by counsel.

(c) The Board shall refuse to grant any retail license, other than a
druggist license, to any person to’sell wine and beer or beer in any county
or city, the qualified voters of which shall in accordance with the provisions
of § 4-45 vote that the sale of such alcoholic beverages be prohibited in such
county or city.

(d) The Board shall refuse to grant any wholesale beer or wine li-
cense to any person, unless such person has established or will establish
a place or places of business within this State at which will be received
and from which will be distributed all alcoholic beverages sold by such
person in the State; except in special circumstances the Board may permit,
subject to such regulations as it may from time to time adopt, alcoholic
beverages to be received into or distributed from places other than es-
tablished places of business.

(d1) The Board shall not issue any wholesale beer license or wholesale
wine distributor’s license to any person who has not resided in the State
for at least one year immediately preceding application therefor, nor to any
corporation a majority of the stock of which is owned by persons who have
not resided in the State for at least one year immediately preceding ap-
plication therefor. Nothing in the foregoing provision shall be construed
to affect the validity of any license heretofore issued to any person, persons
or corporation to do business in the State, nor to prohibit issuance of a
new license at any time hereafter to such person, persons or corporations
now licensed to do business in the State as a distributor of beer or wine at
wholesale, whether the new license be for the same or a different or an
additional establishment or establishments.
(d2) The Board may in its discretion refuse to issue any retail wine
and beer license, retail beer license, or retail wine or winery license to any
person who has not resided in the State for at least one year immediately
preceding application therefor, or to any corporation a majority of the
stock of which is owned by persons who have not resided in the State for at
least one year immediately preceding application therefor’, unless refusal to
issue the license would in the opinion of the Board substantially impair the
transferability of the real property upon which would be situated the
licensed establishment.

(d3) The Board may in its discretion refuse a hearing on any applica-
tion for the issuance of any retail alcoholic beverage license, including a
banquet license, provided:

(1) Such license for the applicant has been refused or revoked within
a period of twelve months, or,

(2) Such license has been refused or revoked for any premises at that
location within a period of twelve months.

(e) The Board shall not issue any license until the license tax required
by § 4-33 is paid to the Board.

(f) The action of the Board in granting or in refusing to grant any li-
cense under the provisions of this chapter shall not be subject to review by
any court nor shall any mandamus or injunction lie in any such case.

(g) No license shall be granted under this chapter to a wholesale
wine distributor, until such applicant has filed with the Board a bond run-
ning to the Commonwealth, in a penal sum not exceeding ten thousand dol-
lars, upon a form approved by the Board, signed by the applicant or licen-
see and a surety company authorized to do business in this Commonwealth
as surety, conditioned upon such person securing wine only in°’a manner
provided by law; and that such person shall not fail to remit to the Board
the proper mark-up thereon; shall keep such records as may be required by
law, or the regulations of the Board; and shall abide by such other laws or
regulations of the Board as may be from time to time adopted relative to the
handling of wine by wholesale wine distributors; provided, that in lieu of
furnishing a surety upon such bond, the applicant or licensee may deposit
with the Board as security for the performance of the conditions of the
bond, United States government bonds, Commonwealth of Virginia bonds,
or the bonds of any municipality or county in the State.