ASSEMBLY COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 4666

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 4, 2026

      The Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4666 (1R).

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

      Under the 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 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, 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, a governing board or body of a municipality and a motion picture exhibition facility may negotiate the fee for the initial issuance of a license provided that the fee does not exceed $210,000.  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 bill’s provisions.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments remove, for the initial issuance of plenary retail consumption license issued pursuant to the bill, the fixed discounted license fee of $150,000 for motion picture exhibition facilities that sell a certain percentage of locally-produced alcoholic beverages, and instead allow the motion picture exhibition facility and the governing board or body of the municipality to negotiate the fee, provided that it does not exceed $210,000.  The amendments also make additional technical changes.