ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 5225

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 23, 2026

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5225 (1R).

As reported, this bill makes permanent provisions of P.L.2020, c.33, which temporarily granted retail licensees and craft distillery licensees certain privileges in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Specifically, the bill allows the holder of plenary retail consumption licenses, hotel or motel licenses, seasonal retail consumption licenses, or concessionaire permits, generally issued to bars and restaurants, to sell and deliver alcoholic beverages in original containers or in closed and sealed containers, and mixed cocktails in closed and sealed containers for consumption off the licensed premises.

     In addition, the bill allows craft distillery licensees to sell for consumption, on or off the licensed premises, distilled alcoholic beverages manufactured on the licensed premises and mixed or blended with other alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages and sold in closed and sealed containers.  The bill also allows craft distilleries to sell distilled alcoholic beverages in original containers accompanied by one or more nonalcoholic beverages or foodstuffs that the consumer may combine to prepare a mixed drink. 

     Under the bill, mixed drinks are to be sold in closed and sealed containers that are affixed with a tamper-evident seal and hold not more than 16 fluid ounces.  Any other alcoholic beverages may be sold and delivered in original containers of any size. 

      In addition, the bill allows certain craft alcoholic beverage manufacturers to deliver their products in original containers directly to the residence of a consumer within this State who is 21 years of age or older.  The bill extends this home delivery privilege to the holder of a limited brewery license, plenary winery license that annually produces 250,000 gallons of wine or less, farm winery license, craft distillery license, and cidery and meadery license.  The bill requires these licensees to transport alcoholic beverages in a vehicle that displays a transit insignia issued by the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control and is owned, operated, or otherwise used in connection with the licensed premises.

      Finally, the bill clarifies that under certain circumstances a governing body of a municipality may hold an inactive plenary retail consumption license without the license expiring in accordance with current law. Under current law, any inactive plenary retail consumption license that is not actively used in connection with a premises or transferred to another licensee for use within five years is set to expire.  The bill clarifies that a governing body of a municipality may hold an inactive plenary retail consumption license without the license expiring if the license is held for the purpose of issuing it to a premises located within a redevelopment, improvement, or revitalization area. 

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that: 1) the bill codifies the temporary COVID-19 pandemic “cocktails-to-go” program for certain licensees of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control in the Department of Law and Public Safety; and 2) certain municipalities maintain inactive plenary retail consumption licenses, which may result in increased local revenues, once re-issued. Further, the OLS estimates potential increased expenditures from the implementation of the bill’s provisions and potential penalties. It is unknown if there will be additional revenues from penalty collections that would be offset by expenditures for increased regulation and enforcement and additional costs for the division and municipalities’ increased workload.