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108 Op. Md. Att'y Gen. 3 (2023)

handle is hein.sag/sagmd0112 and id is 1 raw text is: 





ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES


STATUTORY INTERPRETATION - HEALTH - FOOD SERVICE
     FACILITIES  - WINERIES  - WHETHER THE HOLDER OF A
     CLASS   4  LIMITED   WINERY LICENSE CAN PREPARE
     CERTAIN  LIMITED  FOODS   FOR SALE  OR SERVICE  AT  THE
     WINERY

                       March  14, 2023

Edward  C. Rothstein, President
Board of Carroll County Commissioners

     Since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Maryland has had a
detailed scheme of laws that regulate the manufacture, distribution,
and sale of alcohol in the State. See 1933 Md. Laws, Spec. Sess.,
ch. 2; see also U.S. Const., Amend.  XXI  (repealing the 18th
amendment   and recognizing state regulation of alcohol). That
scheme, broadly speaking, establishes a three tier system that
distinguishes alcohol  manufacturers  from  wholesalers, and
wholesalers from  alcohol retailers. See Department of Legis.
Servs., Regulation  of the  Alcoholic Beverages   Industry in
Maryland   13 (2017) (Regulation of Alcohol).  Licenses for
manufacturers and wholesalers are issued by the State's Alcohol
and Tobacco Commission  (ATC), while retail licenses are issued
by the local boards of license commissioners in the counties and
Baltimore City. Regulation of Alcohol, supra, at 13; see also 99
Opinions of the Attorney General 31, 32 (2014).1

     You  have asked  for an opinion of the Attorney General
regarding the scope of one type of manufacturer's license-the
Alcoholic Beverages Article. Among  other things, that provision


   1 These sources and others written before 2021 indicate that the State
Comptroller is responsible for licensing and regulating alcohol
manufacturers and wholesalers. In 2019, the Legislature passed a law
creating the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, see 2019 Md. Laws, ch.
12, which, as of 2021, is tasked with issuing manufacturing and
wholesaling licenses, and generally enforcing and regulating the State's
alcohol laws, see Comptroller of Maryland, Maryland Alcohol [and]
Tobacco  Commission,  https://www.marylandtaxes.gov/divisions/atc/ndex.php
(noting that, [e]ffective January 1, 2021, the ATC became authorized
to enforce and regulate the state's laws concerning alcoholic beverages)
(last visited Mar. 8, 2023). The Comptroller continues to have authority
over alcohol taxes. See Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Joint Annual Report by
the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission & Comptroller of Maryland 1
(2021).
                              3

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