(a) (1) When the ownership of 50 percent or more of the membership interests in a limited liability company required to report the issuance or transfer of memberships under Section 23405.2 is acquired by or transferred to a person or persons who did not hold the ownership of 50 percent of the membership interests on the date the license was issued to the limited liability company, the license of the limited liability company shall be transferred to the limited liability company as newly constituted. The application fee for the transfer of an on-sale general license or an off-sale general license shall be eight hundred dollars ($800). For all other licenses, the fee shall be three hundred thirty-five dollars ($335). In situations involving the multiple and simultaneous transfer of licenses under this section, the regular transfer fee shall be required for only one of the licenses being transferred and the remainder of the licenses shall be transferred for a fee of one hundred dollars ($100) each. All of the transfer fees collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the Alcohol Beverage Control Fund, as provided in Section 25761. Before the license is transferred, the department shall conduct an investigation pursuant to Section 23958. Any person or persons who own 50 percent or more of the membership interests of the limited liability company shall have all the qualifications required of a person holding the same type of license.
(2) The fees may be adjusted by the department pursuant to subdivisions (d) and (e) of Section 23320.
(b) A retail license shall not be transferred by a limited liability company under this section unless, before the filing of the transfer application with the department, the company initiating the transfer records, in the office of the county recorder of the county or counties in which the premises to which the license has been issued are situated, a notice of the intended transfer, stating all of the following:
(1) The name and address of the limited liability company.
(2) The name and address of the person or persons acquiring ownership of 50 percent or more of the membership interests of the limited liability company.
(3) The amount of the consideration paid for the membership interests.
(4) The kind of license or licenses intended to be transferred.
(5) The address or addresses of the premises to which the license or licenses have been issued.
(c) A copy of the notice of the intended transfer, certified by the county recorder, shall be filed with the department together with the transfer application.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, a limited liability company as newly constituted by transfer under this section shall not be eligible for any new credit from any person named in Section 25509 until all delinquent payments owed by the limited liability company as formerly constituted are made, nor shall any retail licensee, by transferring its license under this section, avoid the provisions of Section 25509 with regard to 42-day or 30-day periods, percentage charges for unpaid balances, or cash-on-delivery basis.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorize the formation of a limited liability company composed of only one member in violation of subdivision (b) of Section 17050 of the Corporations Code.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 29, Sec. 65. (SB 82) Effective June 27, 2019.)