Title 07, Title 07: Alcoholic Beverages, Cannabis, and Tobacco

§ 5. Division of Liquor Control; raffles for right to purchase rare and unusual products (a) Notwithstanding any provision of 13 V.S.A. chapter 51 to the contrary, the Division of Liquor Control may conduct raffles for the right to purchase certain rare and unusual spirits and fo…

§ 61. Restrictions; exceptions (a) A person shall not furnish or sell, or keep with intent to sell, any alcoholic beverages, or manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, prescribe, furnish, or possess any alcohol, except as authorized by this title. (b) Notwi…

§ 62. Hours of sale (a) First- or first- and third-class licensees or festival, special event, or educational sampling event permit holders, may sell alcoholic beverages between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. the next morning. (b)(1) Second-class licensees may sell malt bev…

§ 63. Importation or transportation of alcohol; prohibitions; personal import limit; penalty (a)(1) All spirits and fortified wines imported or transported into this State shall be imported or transported by and through the Board of Liquor and Lottery. A person importing or trans…

§ 64. Sale of malt beverages and vinous beverages in kegs (a) A keg shall be sold by a second-class or fourth-class licensee only under the following conditions: (1) The keg shall be tagged in a manner and with a label approved by the Board of Liquor and Lottery. The label shall …

§ 65. Purchase of kegs Any individual who, within 60 days of purchase, fails to return a keg sold pursuant to section 64 of this chapter to the second-class or fourth-class licensee from which the keg was purchased shall be fined $200.00. (Added 1991, No. 255 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; a…

§ 66. Home-fermented malt and vinous beverages; tasting event (a) An individual of legal age may, without obtaining a license under this title or paying State taxes or fees, produce malt or vinous beverages, or both, at home, provided that the amount of home-fermented beverages p…

§ 67. Powdered alcohol products (a) It shall be unlawful for a person to knowingly possess or sell a powdered alcohol product. (b) A person that knowingly possesses a powdered alcohol product shall be fined not more than $500.00. (c) A person that knowingly sells a powdered alcoh…

§ 101. Composition of Department; Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery; Board of Liquor and Lottery (a)(1) The Department of Liquor and Lottery, created by 3 V.S.A. § 212, shall administer the laws relating to alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and the State Lottery. It shall include th…

§ 102. Removal Notwithstanding any provision of 3 V.S.A. § 2004 to the contrary, after notice and hearing, the Governor may remove a member of the Board of Liquor and Lottery for incompetency, failure to discharge his or her duties, malfeasance, immorality, or other cause inimica…

§ 103. Meetings The Board shall meet as may be required for the performance of its duties. The time and place for each meeting shall be designated by the Chair of the Board. The Chair shall call a meeting upon the written request of any two members or upon the written request of …

§ 104. Duties; authority to resolve alleged violations The Board shall supervise and manage the sale of spirits and fortified wines within the State in accordance with the provisions of this title and through the Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery shall: (1)(A) Ensure that the la…

§ 105. Duties of Attorney General The Attorney General shall collaborate with the Board of Liquor and Lottery for the enforcement of the provisions of subdivision 104(1) of this title. (Amended 2018, No. 1 (Sp. Sess.), § 12.)

§ 106. Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery; reports; recommendations (a)(1) With the advice and consent of the Senate, the Governor shall appoint from among not fewer than three candidates proposed by the Board of Liquor and Lottery a Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery for a term …

§ 107. Duties of Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery (a) The Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery shall direct and supervise the Department of Liquor and Lottery and, subject to the direction of the Board, shall see that the laws relating to alcohol and tobacco under this title and …

§ 108. Enforcement by Board; rules; forms and reports The Board of Liquor and Lottery shall administer and enforce the provisions of this title and is authorized and empowered to adopt rules and issue the necessary blanks, forms, and reports, except reports to the Commissioner of…

§ 110. Special brands; purchase by Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery If a person desires to purchase any class, variety, or brand of spirits or fortified wine that a local agency or fortified wine permit holder does not have in stock, the Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery shall…

§ 111. Transfer of local agency store in conjunction with sale of real property or business (a) If a proposed sale of real estate or a business in which a local agency store is located is contingent on the transfer of the agency store’s contract with the Board to the buyer, the s…

§ 112. Liquor Control Enterprise Fund The Liquor Control Enterprise Fund is established. It shall consist of all receipts from the sale of spirits, fortified wines, and other items by the Board of Liquor and Lottery and Division of Liquor Control; fees paid to the Division of Liq…

§ 113. Administration of Department; apportionment of costs The administrative and operating costs of the Department of Liquor and Lottery that are not specific to either the Division of Liquor Control or the Division of Lottery and the cost of any functions that are shared in co…

§ 161. Licenses voted by town; town meetings; warning (a) Upon petition of not less than five percent of the legal voters of any town, filed with the town clerk in conformance with 17 V.S.A. § 2642, the warning of the annual or special meeting shall contain an article providing f…

§ 162. Report After any annual town meeting in which a town votes on the questions set forth in section 161 of this title, the town clerk shall report promptly the results of the vote to the Board of Liquor and Lottery, upon forms furnished by the Board. (Amended 1967, No. 271 (A…

§ 163. Ballots; color (a) Whenever a petition is filed under section 161 of this title, the town clerk shall print, at least two weeks before the annual or special meeting, blank ballots for the votes provided for in section 161 of this title in any color except yellow. The ballo…

§ 164. Duties of ballot clerks and town clerks The board of civil authority, or the ballot clerks if directed by the board of civil authority, shall have charge of the ballots and perform the duties imposed upon ballot clerks and assisting clerks and be subject to the penalties i…

§ 165. Hours of opening The box for the reception of the ballots shall be opened at the hour the meeting is called and be closed when general voting ceases. (Amended 1977, No. 68, § 3; 2017, No. 83, § 14.)

§ 166. Control commissioners There shall be control commissioners in each town and city. The control commissioners shall be the selectboard members in each town and the city council members in each city. The town and city clerks shall be recording officers and clerks of the commi…

§ 167. Duties of local control commissioners (a) The local control commissioners shall administer the rules furnished to them by the Board of Liquor and Lottery, as necessary to carry out the purposes of this title. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, all applic…

§ 168. Unorganized places; control commissioners In an unorganized town or gore, the supervisor shall be the control commissioner for the administration of the rules necessary to carry out the applicable provisions of this title. He or she may in his or her discretion issue and a…

§ 201. Licenses contingent on town vote Licenses of the first or second class shall not be granted by the control commissioners or the Board of Liquor and Lottery to be exercised in any city or town, the voters of which vote “No” on the question of whether to permit the sale of m…

§ 202. Licenses to enforcement officer or control commissioner; exceptions (a) No license of any class shall be granted to any enforcement officer or to any person acting in the officer’s behalf. (b) A member of a local control commission to whom or in behalf of whom a first- or …

§ 203. Restrictions; financial interests; employees (a)(1) Except as provided in section 271 of this title, a packager, manufacturer, or rectifier licensed in Vermont or in another state; a certificate of approval holder; or a wholesale dealer shall not have any financial interes…

§ 204. Application and renewal fees for licenses and permits; disposition of fees (a) The following fees shall be paid when applying for a new license or permit or to renew a license or permit: (1) For a manufacturer’s or rectifier’s license to manufacture or rectify malt beverag…

§ 205. Terms of permits, licenses, and certificates (a) All permits, licenses, and certificates shall expire one year after the date of issuance. (b) A permit, license, or certificate may be renewed as follows: (1) A first-class or second-class license, and an outside consumption…

§ 206. Disposal of fees The control commissioners shall collect all fees for first- and second-class licenses and shall pay the fees to the Division and the city and town treasurers of the respective cities and towns where the fees are collected as provided in subsection 204(b) o…

§ 207. Change of location If a licensee desires to change the location of its business before the expiration of its license, the licensee may submit an application to the Board of Liquor and Lottery, which may amend the license to cover the new premises without the payment of any…

§ 208. Display of license All licenses or permits granted under this title shall be conspicuously displayed on the premises for which the license or permit is granted. (Added 2017, No. 83, § 27.)

§ 209. Bankruptcy, death, and revocation (a) If a licensee or permittee becomes bankrupt or dies before the expiration of its license or permit, the licensee’s or permittee’s trustee, executor, or administrator may sell the alcohol that came into its possession to a holder of a l…

§ 210. Suspension or revocation of license or permit; administrative penalty (a)(1) The control commissioners or the Board of Liquor and Lottery shall have power to suspend or revoke any permit or license granted pursuant to this title in the event the person holding the permit o…

§ 211. Hearing officers (a) The Chair of the Board of Liquor and Lottery may appoint a hearing officer to conduct hearings pursuant to section 210 of this title. A hearing officer may be a member of the Board appointed under section 210 of this title. (b) The hearing officer may …

§ 212. Complaints and prosecutions The Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery or the local control commissioners shall make complaint to the State’s Attorney or other designee of the legislative body of the municipality of any unlawful furnishing, selling, or keeping for sale of alco…

§ 213. Licensee education (a) A new first-class, second-class, third-class, fourth-class, or manufacturer’s or rectifier’s license or common carrier certificate shall not be granted until the applicant has attended a Division of Liquor Control in-person seminar or completed the a…

§ 214. Proof of financial responsibility (a) Any first-, second-, or third-class licensee whose license is suspended by the local control commissioners or suspended or revoked by the Board of Liquor and Lottery for selling or furnishing alcoholic beverages to a minor, to a person…

§ 215. Authority for criminal background checks Subject to the approval of the Board, the Commissioner shall establish a user agreement with the Vermont Crime Information Center in accordance with 20 V.S.A. chapter 117 for the purpose of obtaining Vermont criminal history records…

§ 221. First-class licenses (a)(1) With the approval of the Board of Liquor and Lottery, the control commissioners may grant a first-class license to a retail dealer for the premises where the dealer carries on business if the retail dealer submits an application and pays the fee…

§ 222. Second-class licenses (a)(1) With the approval of the Board of Liquor and Lottery, the control commissioners may grant a second-class license to a retail dealer for the premises where the dealer carries on business if the retail dealer submits an application and pays the f…

§ 223. Third-class licenses (a) The Board of Liquor and Lottery may grant to a person who operates a hotel, restaurant, club, boat, or railroad dining car, or who holds a manufacturer’s or rectifier’s license, a third-class license if: (1) the person files an application accompan…