561.17 License and registration applications; approved person.—
(1) Any person, before engaging in the business of manufacturing, bottling, distributing, selling, or in any way dealing in alcoholic beverages, shall file, with the district licensing personnel of the district of the division in which the place of business for which a license is sought is located, a sworn application in the format prescribed by the division. The applicant must be a legal or business entity, person, or persons and must include all persons, officers, shareholders, and directors of such legal or business entity that have a direct or indirect interest in the business seeking to be licensed under this part. However, the applicant does not include any person that derives revenue from the license solely through a contractual relationship with the licensee, the substance of which contractual relationship is not related to the control of the sale of alcoholic beverages. Before any application is approved, the division may require the applicant to file a set of fingerprints electronically through an approved electronic fingerprinting vendor or on forms prescribed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for herself or himself and for any person or persons interested directly or indirectly with the applicant in the business for which the license is being sought, when required by the division. If the applicant or any person who is interested with the applicant either directly or indirectly in the business or who has a security interest in the license being sought or has a right to a percentage payment from the proceeds of the business, either by lease or otherwise, is not qualified, the division shall deny the application. However, any company regularly traded on a national securities exchange and not over the counter; any insurer, as defined in the Florida Insurance Code; or any bank or savings and loan association chartered by this state, another state, or the United States which has an interest, directly or indirectly, in an alcoholic beverage license is not required to obtain the division’s approval of its officers, directors, or stockholders or any change of such positions or interests. A shopping center with five or more stores, one or more of which has an alcoholic beverage license and is required under a lease common to all shopping center tenants to pay no more than 10 percent of the gross proceeds of the business holding the license to the shopping center, is not considered as having an interest, directly or indirectly, in the license. A performing arts center, as defined in s. 561.01, which has an interest, directly or indirectly, in an alcoholic beverage license is not required to obtain division approval of its volunteer officers or directors or of any change in such positions or interests.
(2) All applications for any alcoholic beverage license must be accompanied by proof of the applicant’s right of occupancy for the entire premises sought to be licensed. All applications for alcoholic beverage licenses for consumption on the premises shall be accompanied by a certificate of the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Department of Health, the Agency for Health Care Administration, or the county health department that the place of business wherein the business is to be conducted meets all of the sanitary requirements of the state.
(3) A transfer of 10 percent of any financial interest, a change of executive officers or directors, or a divestiture or resignation of such interest or position, in a business holding a vendor’s license permitting the sale of any alcoholic beverages regardless of alcoholic content shall be contingent upon the express approval by the division of the persons holding or acquiring such interest or position except for persons exempted in subsection (1).
(4) Any person, before engaging in the business of exporting alcoholic beverages, must file with the district supervisor of the district of the division in which the exporter’s business is located, a registration on forms provided to the district supervisor by the division. An exporter may not register unless she or he has complied with all appropriate federal regulations, including federal permitting regulations.
(5) Any person or entity licensed or permitted by the division, or applying for a license or permit, must create and maintain an account with the division’s online system and provide an e-mail address to the division to function as the primary means of contact for all communication by the division to the licensee, permittee, or applicant. Licensees, permittees, and applicants are responsible for maintaining accurate contact information on file with the division. A person or an entity seeking a license or permit from the division must apply using forms prepared by the division and filed through the division’s online system before engaging in any business for which a license or permit is required. The division may not process an application for an alcoholic beverage license unless the application is submitted through the division’s online system.
History.—s. 2, ch. 16774, 1935; CGL 1936 Supp. 4151(228); s. 5, ch. 22663, 1945; s. 4, ch. 25359, 1949; s. 3, ch. 29786, 1955; s. 14, ch. 57-420; s. 1, ch. 59-316; ss. 16, 19, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 72-230; s. 459, ch. 77-147; s. 2, ch. 77-192; s. 2, ch. 81-166; s. 3, ch. 90-17; s. 7, ch. 91-60; s. 215, ch. 94-218; s. 4, ch. 95-346; s. 841, ch. 97-103; s. 251, ch. 99-8; s. 4, ch. 2000-191; s. 41, ch. 2010-106; s. 2, ch. 2011-150; s. 2, ch. 2017-137; s. 14, ch. 2021-135; s. 19, ch. 2024-178.
Cited 43 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida
...Finally, respondent suggests that the payment of a percentage of gross sales to petitioner as a "person interested with the applicant either directly or indirectly in the business for which the license is sought" would be in violation of that provision of Fla. Stat. § 561.17, F.S.A., regarding applications for Florida beverage licenses and therefore that the contract for payment would be statutorily prohibited....
Cited 33 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 159 Fla. 88, 1947 Fla. LEXIS 689
...If to a corporation, then not to any officers or directors under sentence or on parole or who are fugitives charged with the violation of the Florida or United States prohibition laws. Section 5 of Chapter 22663, Acts of 1945, Laws of Florida, amending Section 561.17, Fla....
...and who have not been convicted of any offense involving moral turpitude. Section 561.16, F.S.A., enumerates the persons to whom a liquor license shall not be issued and, if erroneously issued, then the same may by the Beverage Director be revoked. Section 561.17, F.S.A., outlines the method to observe and follow in obtaining a liquor license....
...No license, under the beverage law, shall issue within two years to any person after such conviction or to any person who shall have been convicted of the violation of the Beverage Act, or to any corporation whose officers or directors have been convicted of violating the Beverage Act. Section 561.17 provides that any person desiring to engage in the business of manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages shall file under oath with the Tax Collector a written application for a license to operate such a business....
...e 5, 8 and 12, 1983. 8. The court order of March 10, 1983, did not attempt to effect a judicial transfer of the beverage license held by the Respondents. 9. The court appointed receivers did not file an application for a beverage license pursuant to Section 561.17, Florida Statutes, and there is no evidence that the receivers attempted to transfer the beverage license held by the Respondents pursuant to Section 561.32(l)(a) and (b), Florida Statutes, or Section 7A-2.06(6), Florida Administrative Code....
...w Cause, in violation of the provisions of Chapter 893, Florida Statutes. 5. The licensees of record on the dates in question were Henry Stripling and Thomas Olhausen as reflected by the records of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. 6. Section 561.17, Florida Statutes, requires that any person, before engaging in the alcoholic beverage business, file an application for a beverage license....
...beverage license involved shall be transferred to the name of such appointee, pending further order of the court, upon the filing with the Division of a certified copy of the order of appointment. 7. The co-receivers did not follow the provisions of section 561.17, Florida Statutes, or the provisions of Section 7A-2.-06(6), Florida Administrative Code, and thus the receivers are not licensees of record in this proceeding....
...between liquor vendors and churches and schools. See 53 C.J.S. Licenses s. 28, in which the general rule is stated that a business prohibited by law cannot properly be licensed. Your second question is answered in the affirmative. AS TO QUESTION 3: Section 561.17 (2), F....
...Rehabilitative Services or the appropriate county health department. See also s. 561.32 , F. S., requiring, inter alia, that applications for transfers of license "shall be approved by the division in accord with the same procedure provided for in ss. 561.17 , 561.18 and 561.19 , in the case of issuance of new licenses." However, I find no authority for the Division of Beverage to extend this certificate requirement to all applications for a liquor license, or the transfer thereof, and must, therefore, conclude that the division may not do so....
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