2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 16. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana › Chapter 4. License Administration › Part 2. All-Beverages Licenses › 16-4-201. All-beverages license quota

16-4-201. All-beverages license quota.
(1) Except as otherwise provided by law, a license to sell liquor, beer, and table wine at retail, an all-beverages license, in accordance with the provisions of this code and the rules of the department, may be issued to any person who is approved by the department as a fit and proper person to sell alcoholic beverages, except that the number of all-beverages licenses that the department may issue for premises situated within incorporated cities and incorporated towns and within 5 miles of the corporate limits of those cities and towns must be determined on the basis of population prescribed in 16-4-502 as follows:
(a) in incorporated towns of 500 inhabitants or fewer and within 5 miles of the corporate limits of the towns, not more than two retail licenses;
(b) in incorporated cities or incorporated towns of more than 500 inhabitants and not more than 3,000 inhabitants and within 5 miles of the corporate limits of the cities and towns, three retail licenses for the first 1,000 inhabitants and one retail license for each additional 1,000 inhabitants;
(c) in incorporated cities of more than 3,000 inhabitants and within 5 miles of the corporate limits of the cities, five retail licenses for the first 3,000 inhabitants and one retail license for each additional 1,500 inhabitants.
(2) The number of inhabitants in each incorporated city or incorporated town, exclusive of the number of inhabitants residing within 5 miles of the corporate limits of the city or town, governs the number of retail licenses that may be issued for use within the city or town and within 5 miles of the corporate limits of the city or town. The distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits of any incorporated city or incorporated town must be measured in a straight line from the nearest entrance of the premises proposed for licensing to the nearest corporate boundary of the city or town. A license that is restricted by quota limitations in this section may not be located farther than:
(a) the county boundary within which the incorporated city or incorporated town is located; or
(b) the line that separates the incorporated city's or incorporated town's boundary from another incorporated city or incorporated town as specified in this section.
(3) (a) When the 5-mile boundary of one incorporated city or incorporated town overlaps the 5-mile boundary of another incorporated city or incorporated town, the quota area for each city or town terminates in a straight line equidistant between each city or town.
(b) If there are more than two overlapping quota areas, the quota area for each city or town terminates from the center of the overlap in a straight line to the intersecting exterior point of overlap. Licenses existing as of November 24, 2017, will be designated as belonging to whichever quota area they are in as a result of the straight line equidistant between each city or town, except for the following:
(i) In the Helena and East Helena previously combined quota area, the straight line will be drawn connecting the two outermost edges of the Helena corporate boundaries and extend outward to the quota area boundaries. Any license existing as of November 24, 2017, with a physical address of Helena will become a Helena license or with a physical address of East Helena will become an East Helena license, regardless of where it falls in the new quota areas.
(ii) In the Pinesdale and Hamilton previously combined quota area, the straight line will be drawn along Mill Creek road to the quota area boundaries.
(iii) In the Polson and Ronan quota areas, the straight line will be drawn from U.S. highway 93 west on Pablo West road to the quota area boundary and east on Clairmont road extending out to the quota area boundary. Any license existing as of November 24, 2017, within the Polson quota area will become a Polson license, regardless of where it falls in the new quota areas. Any license existing as of November 24, 2017, within the Ronan quota area will become a Ronan license, regardless of where it falls in the new quota areas.
(4) For a period of 12 years after November 24, 2017, existing licenses or licenses that resulted from applications in process as of November 24, 2017, in either of two quota areas that were established as provided in subsection (3) may be transferred between the two quota areas if they were part of the combined quota area prior to November 24, 2017.
(5) If any new retail all-beverages licenses are allowed by separating a combined quota area that existed as of November 24, 2017, as provided in subsection (3), the department shall use a competitive bidding process as provided in 16-4-430 to determine the party afforded the opportunity to apply for the new license.
(6) When more than one new all-beverages license is subject to the competitive bidding process in the same quota area, the department shall conduct a separate competitive bidding process at separate times for each available license.
(7) Retail all-beverages licenses of issue on March 7, 1947, and all-beverages licenses issued under 16-4-209 that are in excess of the limitations in subsections (1) and (2) are renewable, but new licenses may not be issued in violation of the limitations.
(8) The limitations in subsections (1) and (2) do not prevent the issuance of a nontransferable and nonassignable, as to ownership only, retail license to:
(a) an enlisted personnel, noncommissioned officers', or officers' club located on a state or federal military reservation on May 13, 1985;
(b) a continuing care retirement community as provided in 16-4-315; or
(c) any post of a nationally chartered veterans' organization or any lodge of a recognized national fraternal organization if the veterans' or fraternal organization has been in continuous existence for a period of 5 years or more prior to January 1, 1949, and is applying for a license at the same location that it has occupied for the last 5 years. A post of a nationally chartered veteran's organization or a lodge of a recognized national fraternal organization that has held a veterans' or fraternal license within the past 10 years is not subject to the 5-year same-location requirement.
(9) The number of retail all-beverages licenses that the department may issue for use at premises situated more than 5 miles outside of any incorporated city or incorporated town may not be more than one license for each 750 in population of the county after excluding the population of incorporated cities and incorporated towns in the county.
(10) An all-beverages license issued under subsection (9) that becomes located within 5 miles of an incorporated city or town because of annexation after April 15, 2005, may not be transferred to another location within the city quota area any sooner than 5 years from the date of annexation.
(11) A license issued under this section may offer curbside pickup between 8 a.m. and 2 a.m. in original packaging, prepared servings, or growlers.
(12) A person licensed under this section may apply to the department and pay a fee for an endorsement to, with the licensee's own employees 21 years of age or older, deliver beer and wine in original packaging if the delivery includes food that is prepared by the licensee at the licensee's premises. The purchase price of the delivered beer and wine may not exceed the purchase price of the delivered food.
(13) The department may adopt rules to implement this section.
History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 84, L. 1937; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 226, L. 1947; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 164, L. 1949; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 144, L. 1951; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 56, L. 1955; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 206, L. 1959; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 217, L. 1963; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 322, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 340, L. 1974; Sec. 4-403, R.C.M. 1947; amd. and redes. 4-4-202 by Sec. 79, Ch. 387, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 496, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 4-4-202; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 25, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 519, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 595, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 731, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 24, Ch. 68, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 267, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 201, Ch. 56, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 5, Sp. L. November 2017; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 342, L. 2019; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 473, L. 2019; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 194, L. 2021; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 451, L. 2021; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 93, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 9, Ch. 601, L. 2023.