Last year, we covered the South Carolina Supreme Court case that ruled the state’s prohibition against an entity holding more than three off-premises retail liquor licenses was unconstitutional. The court held that the South Carolina law was enacted to protect small retailers, and that economic protectionism was not a sufficient justification for the law. Read our previous blog on that March 2017 decision in Total Wine v. South Carolina DOR here.

The South Carolina legislature recently passed a law that reenacts limits on the number of off-premises retail liquor licenses that an entity may hold. Act 147 was signed by the South Carolina Governor in April, and it went into effect immediately. In an attempt to distinguish the Act from the law previously ruled unconstitutional by the South Carolina Supreme Court, the legislature listed a variety of health and safety policy arguments in favor of the legislation, in addition to the economic goals of spurring competition and reducing monopolization of the alcohol market. The legislature asserted that harms related to excessive alcohol consumption are tied to liquor retailer density, and cited statistics involving alcohol-related deaths, traffic fatalities, as well as binge drinking rates.

The new law, S.C. Code § 61- 6-141, provides that an entity may only obtain three off-premises retail liquor licenses in the state. However, an entity may obtain three additional off-premises retail liquor licenses, if the new retail liquor licenses are obtained in counties with more than 250,000 residents. Furthermore, an entity seeking any of the three additional off-premises retail liquor licenses may not operate more than two stores in a county with more than 250,000 residents. However, if the entity already operated three off-premises retail liquor licenses in a
county with more than 250,000 residents as of March 21, 2018, then the entity may obtain two additional off-premises retail liquor licenses to operate in that county. Currently, only seven counties have a population larger than 250,000 residents.

The issuance of the three additional off-premises retail liquor licenses is staggered under the new law. Entities may obtain only one additional license between now and May 31, 2020, a second additional license between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2022, and the third additional license will not be available until June 1, 2022.

If you have any questions about retail liquor licensing or chain limitations, contact one of the attorneys at Strike Kerr & Johns.

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