Senate approves final deal deferring ABC renewal fees
By John Trump, Carolina Journal
The N.C. Senate has approved a final deal with the House for a bill to defer certain ABC renewal fees. Negotiations over a final version of the bill stretched out over three months.
Under the terms of the deal, ABC permit holders could wait until Oct. 1 to pay registration or renewal fees for permits running from May 1 through April 30, 2022. By submitting a recycling plan to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, a permit holder could avoid fees for 13 specific types of permits.
Permit holders unaffected by the Oct. 1 delay would see a due date of April 30, 2022, for their payments.
The House approved House Bill 73 in early March, and the Senate passed its amended version of the measure in mid-April, returning it to the House for concurrence. The Senate on Thursday, July 22, voted 41-0 to approve the final deal in the form of a conference report. If the House approves the same conference report, the bill would head to the governor.
The bill applies to myriad permittees, including those applying to mixed beverages, malt beverages, and wine shops.
In February, Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law House Bill 4, extending the delay on payment deadlines for the renewal of certain alcohol permits.
The extension continues until 90 days after all executive orders limiting permittees’ full operation are rescinded or expire, the bill says.
That bill allows certain ABC permittees whose operation is limited by executive orders responding to the COVID-19 pandemic to request a refund of any permit fees paid for the 2020-21 permit year, the bill says. It also directs the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to reinstate or reactivate any permits canceled or moved to inactive status.
