TRENTON – Trenton is abuzz with the prospect of changing New Jersey’s archaic liquor license laws.
Gov. Phil Murphy said he will make changes to the state’s “Prohibition-era” liquor laws a focal point of 2023. A bill just introduced seeks to gradually end the existing population cap.
The bill would phase out the existing population cap that limits the number of liquor licenses a municipality can have to one license per 3,000 residents.
The population cap would be phased out at 10% per year until it is gone in 2029, moving from one license per 3,000 to one per 2,700, and so forth each year.
The legislation would maintain municipal control, allowing the towns to decide on the number and types of licenses after the cap is removed.
Breweries, distilleries, and wineries would be freed from several regulations that they argue are impediments to growth. Most significantly, they would no longer be barred from serving food and would be allowed to hold unlimited events.
Murphy has not said he will support any recently introduced legislation.
The big issue in reform is what to do with existing license holders who paid very high prices for a license either directly from a municipality or in a market transaction.
Not everybody is happy with the reform moves. A poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickenson University found that one out of three New Jerseyans prefer to buy their drinks at an establishment, another one-third prefer to bring their own bottle, and the final third don’t care either way.
Should the state expand liquor licenses? 50% of those polled said yes, 38% said no, and the remaining 12% were undecided or refused to answer.
The poll also found that South Jersey residents had the lowest level of support for change to existing liquor license laws.
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