(1) Upon the completion of the investigation of an application, the division shall approve or disapprove the application. If approved, the license shall be issued upon payment to the division of the license tax hereinafter provided.
(2)(a) When beverage licenses become available by reason of an increase in the population of a county, by reason of a county permitting the sale of intoxicating beverages when such sale had been prohibited, or by reason of the cancellation or revocation of a quota beverage license, the division, if there are more applicants than the number of available licenses, shall provide a method of double random selection by public drawing to determine which applicants shall be considered for issuance of licenses. The double random selection drawing method shall allow each applicant whose application is complete and does not disclose on its face any matter rendering the applicant ineligible an equal opportunity of obtaining an available license. After all applications are filed with the director, the director shall then determine by random selection drawing the order in which each applicant’s name shall be matched with a number selected by random drawing, and that number shall determine the order in which the applicant will be considered for a license. This paragraph does not prohibit a person holding a perfected lien or security interest in a quota alcoholic beverage license, in accordance with s. 561.65, from enforcing the lien or security interest against the license within 180 days after a final order of revocation or suspension. A revoked quota alcoholic beverage license encumbered by a lien or security interest, perfected pursuant to s. 561.65, may not be issued under this subsection until the 180-day period has elapsed or until such enforcement proceeding is final.
(b) Any portion of the drawing results of a particular county which reveals the rank order of persons not receiving notice of selection is confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1), until such time as all of the licenses from that county’s drawing have been issued.
(c) Subject to this selection process, an applicant shall, after a drawing is held, have 45 days from the date the division mails the notice of selection to file an application on forms provided by the division and if such applicant is found by the division to be qualified, a license shall be issued. The application shall be filed pursuant to s. 561.17, and the license shall be issued upon the payment of the applicable license fees. If the applicant is not prepared to use the license at a business location, the license shall be held in an inactive status by the division, and the licensee shall be required to activate the license at a location in accordance with s. 561.29. Nothing contained herein, however, shall prohibit the division from revoking a license issued to a person, firm, or corporation that would not qualify for the issuance of a new license or the transfer of an existing license.
(d) The director shall not include more than one application from any one person, firm, or corporation in the random selection process, nor may she or he consider more than one application for any one person, firm, or corporation when there are fewer applications than available licenses.
(e) Each applicant for inclusion in the drawing shall pay to the division a filing fee of $100.
(3) In the event that the number of applications does not exceed the number of licenses available, the drawing provided in subsection (2) shall not be held, but the licenses shall be issued in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2).
(4) The issuance of licenses pursuant to subsection (2) or subsection (3) shall not be governed by the provisions of s. 120.60. The issuance of any such license shall occur no later than 180 days after a drawing is held pursuant to notice published in the Florida Administrative Register or, in the event no drawing is held, within 180 days of the final date for filing applications. Any applicant who is not included in the pool for drawing to determine priority shall file, within 30 days of the date of mailing of notice to such applicant, a challenge to such action pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57, or the right to file any action as to such matter shall be forever lost. Any applicant whose name is included in the pool for drawing to determine priority but who is not issued a license shall be entitled to request a hearing on the denial pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57 only on the grounds that the selection process was not conducted in accordance with law or that the licensee selected does not possess the qualifications required by law.
(5) A fee of $10,750 shall be collected from each person, firm, or corporation that is issued a new liquor license subject to the limitation imposed in s. 561.20(1) as provided in this section. This initial license fee shall not be imposed on any license renewal and shall be in addition to the license fees imposed by s. 565.02. The revenues collected from the initial license fee imposed by this subsection shall be deposited in the Department of Children and Families’ Operations and Maintenance Trust Fund to be used only for alcohol and drug abuse education, treatment, and prevention programs.
(6) The state license tax shall be collected by the division, and the division shall return the county and municipal share pursuant to s. 561.342 to the appropriate county and municipality monthly on or before the 10th day of the month succeeding the beginning of the taxable year and quarterly thereafter.
History.—s. 2, ch. 16774, 1935; CGL 1936 Supp. 4151(228); s. 6, ch. 25359, 1949; s. 16, ch. 57-420; ss. 16, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 72-230; s. 9, ch. 78-95; s. 28, ch. 79-4; s. 3, ch. 81-158; s. 3, ch. 84-262; s. 3, ch. 88-308; s. 4, ch. 89-293; s. 1, ch. 92-91; s. 2, ch. 92-176; s. 2, ch. 93-134; s. 6, ch. 95-346; s. 346, ch. 96-406; s. 256, ch. 96-410; s. 1179, ch. 97-103; s. 252, ch. 99-8; s. 1, ch. 2003-20; s. 50, ch. 2013-14; s. 277, ch. 2014-19; s. 15, ch. 2021-135.