TULARE AND FRESNO COUNTY – New liquor licenses are up for grabs in counties across the state of California, including in the Central Valley counties of Tulare and Fresno.
On Aug. 17, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) announced that department Director Paul Tupy authorized the issuance of new on-sale and off-sale liquor licenses, as well as the transfer of intercounty licenses. This includes new authorizations in Fresno and Tulare County.
The county of Fresno was authorized for 25 on-sale general licenses, three off-sale general licenses and 25 intercounty on-sale licenses. The county of Tulare has been authorized for 16 new on-sale licenses and 16 intercounty on-sale licenses, but received no authorization for any more off-sale licenses.
Neither county was authorized for intercounty off-sale licenses.
On-sale licenses allow businesses to sell beer, wine and distilled spirits for consumption on the premises, while off-sale licenses allow for them to be sold in sealed containers for consumption off the premises. The transfer of an intercounty liquor license — on-sale and off-sale — allows a business owner to take an existing general alcoholic beverage license and move it from one county to another, with a transfer fee.
Applications for the new original on-sale general and off-sale general licenses will be accepted at local ABC offices in these counties, where they’ll be available from Sept. 14 to Sept. 25. Applicants are encouraged to file their applications early in the filing period to avoid a lengthy wait.
If the number of applicants within a county for a particular type of license/transaction is equal to or less than the number of licenses available, all applicants will be notified that they have 90 days to complete a formal application for their specific premises.
If the department receives more applications than there are licenses available, a virtual drawing will be held. To participate in such a drawing, an applicant must have been a resident of California for at least 90 days prior to the date of the scheduled drawing. Successful drawing participants will be notified that they have 90 days to complete a formal application for their specific premises.
Unsuccessful drawing participants will be automatically refunded their application fee — minus a $100 service charge — within 90-120 days of the priority drawing. However, they will retain their priority ranking until Aug. 1 of the following year.
During the same period, priority applications will be accepted for the intercounty transfer of on-sale general and off-sale general licenses, as they are authorized for the county. On the department’s website, a priority license is described as a brand new, original general license or a general license that is being transferred from one county to another county through an intercounty transfer.
Only one priority application will be accepted from any one applicant per county for each type of license. A fee of $19,840 is to be paid when filing an application for a new original general license, and a fee of $7,515 is to be paid when filing a priority application for the intercounty transfer of a general license.
Successful participants who file a formal application for a priority license who then decide to withdraw their application will be entitled to a refund in accordance with Business and Professions Codes 23320 and 23959. If an applicant owes money to the California taxing agencies, a claim against the priority application fee may be made by the taxing agency. If such a claim is made, the amount owed will be deducted from the priority application fee at the time of refund and remitted to the taxing agency.