Authorizes certain restaurants to advertise that patrons may bring their own beer or wine or purchase wine from on premises salesroom.

A5150

ASSEMBLY, No. 5150

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 28, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman� HEATHER SIMMONS

District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)

Assemblyman� ROY FREIMAN

District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)

SYNOPSIS

���� Authorizes certain restaurants to advertise that
patrons may bring their own beer or wine or purchase wine from on premises
salesroom.�

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

authorizing certain restaurants to advertise the availability of wine or beer
and amending P.L.1999, c.90.�

����
Be It Enacted

by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 5 of P.L.1999,
c.90 (C.2C:33-27) is amended to read as follows:

���� 5.��� Consumption of alcohol
in restaurants.

���� a.����
[
No
]

A

person who owns or operates a restaurant, dining room
,
or other public
place where food or liquid refreshments are sold or served to the general
public, and for which premises a license or permit authorizing the sale of
alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption has not been issued
shall
not
:

���� (1)��
[
Shall
]
allow the
consumption of alcoholic beverages, other than wine or a malt alcoholic
beverage, in a portion of the premises which is open to the public;
[
or
]

���� (2)��
[
Shall
]
charge any
admission fee or cover, corkage
,
or service charge
[
or advertise
inside or outside of such premises that patrons may bring and consume their own
wine or malt alcoholic beverages in a portion of the premises which is open to
the public.
]
;
or

���� (3)��
[
Shall
]
allow the
consumption of wine or malt alcoholic beverages at times or by persons to whom
the service or consumption
[
or
]

of

alcoholic beverages on
the
licensed premises is prohibited by State or
municipal law or regulation.

���� b.���
(1)
Nothing in
this act shall restrict the right of a municipality or an owner or operator of
a restaurant, dining room
,
or other public place where food or liquid
refreshments are sold or served to the general public from prohibiting the
consumption of alcoholic beverages on those premises.

����
(2)�� Nothing in this act
shall restrict the right of an owner or operator of a restaurant, dining room,
or other unlicensed public premises where food or liquid refreshments are sold or
served to the general public from advertising inside or outside of the premises
that patrons may:

����
(a)�� bring and consume
their own wine or malt alcoholic beverages in a portion of the premises which
is open to the public; or

����
(b)�� purchase wine from a
salesroom located on the premises as authorized by subsections 2a., 2b., or 2e.
of R.S.33:1-10.

���� c.���� A person who violates
any provision of this act is a disorderly person, and the court, in addition to
the sentence imposed for the disorderly person violation, may by its judgment
bar the owner or operator from allowing consumption of wine or malt alcoholic
beverages
[
in
his
]

on
the
premises as authorized by this act.�

(cf: P.L.1999, c.90, s.5)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

����� This bill r
emoves the State�s statutory
prohibition on restaurants without liquor licenses advertising that their
patrons may bring their own beer or wine (�BYOB�) for consumption on the
premises.� The bill also authorizes restaurants to advertise that certain wines
in winery salesrooms located on the premises are available for purchase.��

���� Under current statutory law, a
person who owns or operates a restaurant, dining room, or other public place
where food or liquid refreshments are sold or served to the general public, but
is not licensed to sell alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption, may
allow the consumption of wine or beer in those portions of the premises open to
the public.� But the owner or operator is prohibited from advertising this
option inside or outside of the premises.� An owner or operator who violates
the prohibition on advertising BYOB is guilty of a disorderly persons offense,
which is punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to six months, a fine of up
to $1,000, or both.

���� The bill removes the
prohibition on advertising that a restaurant is BYOB in response to a recent
decision by the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey,
GJJM
Enterprises v. City of Atlantic City
, 352 F.Supp.3d 402 (D.N.J. 2018),
holding that the State�s prohibition on BYOB advertising is an unconstitutional
violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.

���� Also, current law authorizes
plenary wineries which produce less than 250,000 gallons of wine per year, as
well as farm wineries, to sell their wines in 15 salesrooms off the winery
premises for consumption on and off the premises and for sampling purposes.�
�Sampling� is defined as selling at a nominal charge or the gratuitous offering
of an open container not exceeding one and one-half ounces of any wine.�
Out-of-State wineries which produce less than 250,000 gallons of wine per year
similarly are authorized to sell their wine in up to 16 salesrooms.� Under the
bill, restaurants which have a salesroom on the premises would be authorized to
advertise that these wines are available for purchase.