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PRINTER'S NO. 1130
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 985
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY LAUGHLIN, PENNYCUICK AND STEFANO,
SEPTEMBER 4, 2025
REFERRED TO LAW AND JUSTICE, SEPTEMBER 4, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), entitled "An
act relating to alcoholic liquors, alcohol and malt and
brewed beverages; amending, revising, consolidating and
changing the laws relating thereto; regulating and
restricting the manufacture, purchase, sale, possession,
consumption, importation, transportation, furnishing, holding
in bond, holding in storage, traffic in and use of alcoholic
liquors, alcohol and malt and brewed beverages and the
persons engaged or employed therein; defining the powers and
duties of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board; providing
for the establishment and operation of State liquor stores,
for the payment of certain license fees to the respective
municipalities and townships, for the abatement of certain
nuisances and, in certain cases, for search and seizure
without warrant; prescribing penalties and forfeitures;
providing for local option, and repealing existing laws," in
licenses and regulations and liquor, alcohol and malt and
brewed beverages, further providing for ready-to-drink
cocktail permit, for authority to acquire ready-to-drink
cocktail permits, for distributors' and importing
distributors' restrictions on sales, storage, etc. and for
unlawful acts relative to malt or brewed beverages and
licensees.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 415.1(d) and (h), 431.2, 441(b)(2), (g)
and (h) and 492(13) of the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90,
No.21), known as the Liquor Code, amended or added July 17, 2024
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(P.L.924, No.86), are amended to read:
Section 415.1. Ready-to-Drink Cocktail Permit.--* * *
(d) A restaurant or hotel license holder that is also a
ready-to-drink cocktail permit holder may sell for off-premises
consumption, in a single transaction, up to one hundred ninety-
two fluid ounces. Ounces of ready-to-drink cocktails shall not
be combined with wine or malt or brewed beverages for the
purpose of calculating the sale restrictions applicable to each
of those beverages. A distributor or importing distributor
license holder that is also a ready-to-drink cocktail permit
holder may sell ready-to-drink cocktails in any quantity. [No
ready-to-drink cocktail permit holder may sell ready-to-drink
cocktails to a permit or license holder.] A distributor or
importing distributor license holder that is also a ready-to-
drink cocktail permit holder may sell ready-to-drink cocktails
to ready-to-drink cocktail permit holders and licensees of the
board.
* * *
(h) Holders of a ready-to-drink cocktail permit may also
purchase ready-to-drink cocktails directly from a licensed
Pennsylvania manufacturer [for the purpose of reselling the
ready-to-drink cocktail for off-premises consumption.] or from a
holder of a distributor or importing distributor license with a
ready-to-drink cocktail permit.
* * *
Section 431.2. Authority to Acquire Ready-to-Drink Cocktail
Permits.--The holder of a distributor or importing distributor
license may acquire a ready-to-drink cocktail permit as set
forth in section 415.1. The holder of a ready-to-drink cocktail
permit may conduct tastings of ready-to-drink cocktails in
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accordance with the board's regulations pertaining to tastings
for liquor. The ready-to-drink cocktails shall not be subject to
the prohibitions set forth in section 492(13) and (14) which
would otherwise prohibit distributors and importing distributors
from selling, storing, possessing or interacting with liquor.
The ready-to-drink cocktails shall be subject to section 431(b),
(b.1), (c), (d) and (f).
Section 441. Distributors' and Importing Distributors'
Restrictions on Sales, Storage, Etc.--* * *
(b) * * *
(2) Distributors and importing distributors that hold a
ready-to-drink cocktail permit shall be permitted to sell ready-
to-drink cocktails in any quantity, and all sales must be in
original containers. [Sales of ready-to-drink cocktails are
limited to sales to nonlicensees, and sales of ready-to-drink
cocktails for subsequent resale are prohibited.]
* * *
(g) All malt or brewed beverages and ready-to-drink
cocktails purchased by an importing distributor from a
Pennsylvania manufacturer of malt or brewed beverages or ready-
to-drink cocktails or from any person located outside this
Commonwealth for resale shall be invoiced to the importing
distributor, shall come physically into the possession of such
importing distributor and shall be unloaded into and distributed
from the licensed premises of such importing distributor. The
board may act to further define and control the storage and
distribution of malt or brewed beverages and ready-to-drink
cocktails in conformity with this section and this act.
(h) As used in this section, the term "franchise territory"
shall mean the geographically contiguous area in which an
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importing distributor has been given rights for the sale or
resale of malt or brewed beverages and ready-to-drink cocktails.
* * *
Section 492. Unlawful Acts Relative to Malt or Brewed
Beverages and Licensees.--
It shall be unlawful--
* * *
(13) Possession or Storage of Liquor or Alcohol by Certain
Licensees. For any distributor, importing distributor or retail
dispenser, or his servants, agents or employes, to have in his
possession, or to permit the storage of on the licensed premises
or in any place contiguous or adjacent thereto accessible to the
public or used in connection with the operation of the licensed
premises, any alcohol or liquor. The provisions of this section
shall not apply to the possession or storage of ready-to-drink
cocktails that are purchased in compliance with [section 441]
this act.
* * *
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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