ASSEMBLY OVERSIGHT, REFORM AND FEDERAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4666

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 14, 2026

      The Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4666.

      As amended and reported by the committee, this bill permits for-profit movie theaters to acquire a plenary retail consumption license under certain conditions.

      Under the amended bill, the governing board or body of any municipality, upon the approval of the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, may issue a plenary retail consumption license to a for-profit entity that operates a motion picture exhibition facility, commonly known as a movie theater.  A license issued under the amended bill authorizes movie theaters to sell alcoholic beverages two hours before a first-run motion picture is shown and during scheduled motion picture exhibitions conducted at the licensed premises in connection with the operation of the qualifying motion picture exhibition facility.

      The amended bill requires the application for the initial issuance and renewal of each license be made to the municipal governing body on an annual basis.  Under the bill, as amended, the fee for the initial issuance of the license is $210,000.  However, if 10 percent of the alcoholic beverages sold by a motion picture exhibition facility are produced by the holders of a limited brewery license, restricted brewery license, farm brewery license, plenary winery license, farm winery license, cidery and meadery license, craft distillery license, or historic distillery license, the fee for the initial issuance of a license issued under the provisions of the bill is to be $150,000.  One-third of the initial issuance fee for the license is to be paid when the license is issued, one-third of the fee is to be paid nine months after the license is issued, and one-third of the fee is to be paid 18 months after the license is issued. 

      Under current law, a municipality may issue one plenary retail consumption license for each 3,000 of its population.  This restriction would not apply to the holder of a plenary consumption license used in connection with a premises that is primarily used for the showing of first-run motion pictures in accordance with the amended bill’s provisions.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      1)  establish the fee for the initial issuance of the license as $210,000; as introduced, the initial fee was “at least” $210,000;

      2)  clarify that alcoholic beverages may be sold during scheduled motion picture exhibitions conducted at the licensed premises in connection with the operation of the qualifying motion picture exhibition facility;

      3)  clarify that the license is to remain sited at the motion picture exhibition facility and is not to be transferred, assigned, sold, pledged, or otherwise used in connection with any other premises or business operation; and

      4)  revise the definition of “first-run motion picture,” “licensed premises,” and “motion picture exhibition facility.”