Application for licenses; statement of beneficial interests; corporate stock transfers; filing notation; publication of notice; hearing; plan of premises; transfers; notice to abutting property owners; complaints; appeals; cancellation of licenses
M.G.L. c. 138, § 15A
in effectc. 138, § 15A. Application for licenses; statement of beneficial interests; corporate stock transfers; filing notation; publication of notice; hearing; plan of premises; transfers; notice to abutting property owners; complaints; appeals; cancellation of licenses
Section 15A. All applications for an original license under sections twelve and fifteen shall be made on a form or forms to be prescribed by the commission and shall include a sworn statement by the applicant giving the names and addresses of all persons who have a direct or indirect beneficial interest in said license. No stock in a corporation holding a license to sell alcoholic beverages shall be transferred, pledged, or issued without first obtaining the permission of the local licensing authorities and the commission. Provisions of this section shall not apply to stockholders of a corporation whose stock is listed for sale to the general public with the Securities and Exchange Commission and who hold less than ten per cent of the outstanding stock entitled to vote at the annual meeting of said corporation. Notation of the date and hour of filing shall be made on every application. Within ten days after receipt of any such application, the local licensing authorities shall cause a notice thereof to be published at the expense of the applicant. Such notice shall be published in the city or town wherein the license is intended to be exercised or, if no newspaper is published in such city or town, in a newspaper, published within the commonwealth, providing general circulation in such city or town, or if there is no newspaper providing general circulation in such city or town, then in a daily newspaper published in the county wherein such license is intended to be exercised. After such publication the name of the newspaper publishing such notice shall be noted by the local licensing authorities on the application for a license. The notice shall set forth the name of the applicant in full, the kind of license applied for, a description of the location and area where the license is intended to be exercised, designating, if practicable, the street and number. No application shall be acted upon by the local licensing authorities except after hearing thereon which shall be held not sooner than ten calendar days after the publication of such notice. An affidavit of the person making such publication on behalf of such authorities, together with an attested copy of the notice published, shall be filed in the office of such authorities, and a certified copy of such affidavit shall be prima facie evidence that such notice has been published in accordance with this section. Where there are no premises actually in existence at the time the application is made, the applicant may file with the local licensing authorities a plan showing the actual dimensions of premises which are to be constructed on which the license is to be exercised. The local licensing authorities may thereafter grant a license upon the condition that such license shall issue upon completion of such premises according to said plan, and the decision of the licensing authorities as to whether or not said plan has been complied with shall be final.
Every applicant for an original license under section twelve, fifteen or thirty A, or for a transfer of such a license from one location to another, or an applicant for a change in the description of a licensed premises, or someone in his behalf, shall, within three days after publication as hereinbefore provided, cause a copy of the published notice to be sent by registered mail to each of the persons appearing upon the assessors' most recent valuation list as the owners of the property abutting on the premises where the license is intended to be exercised and, if a school, which gives not less than the minimum instruction and training to children of compulsory school age required by chapter seventy-one, or a church or hospital, is located within a radius of five hundred feet from said premises, to such school, church or hospital. The notice sent to such school, church or hospital shall indicate the necessity of a written objection to prevent the issuance or transfer of such license under the provisions of section sixteen C. An affidavit of the applicant or of the person mailing such notice in his behalf, together with an attested copy of the notice mailed, shall be filed in the office of the local licensing authorities, and a certified copy of such affidavit shall be prima facie evidence that such notice has been mailed in accordance with this section. If any abutter or the authorities in charge of any such school, church or hospital shall make complaint in writing to the local licensing authorities that such license was granted or transferred hereunder without such notice having been mailed to him or them as required hereby, and after due hearing it appears that such notice was not mailed as aforesaid, the local licensing authorities may cancel the license. Any person who has filed a complaint with the local licensing authorities under this section who is aggrieved by the action of such authorities in refusing to cancel a license hereunder or by their failure to act upon such a complaint within a period of thirty days may appeal to the commission in writing within five days following receipt of written notice of such action or within five days following the expiration of the thirty day period, and the commission may, after hearing, cancel such a license and in such event, shall send notice of the cancellation to the local licensing authorities. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit a licensee whose license has been cancelled by the local licensing authorities under authority contained in this section from appealing to the commission as provided in section sixty-seven. No application by the same applicant for the same type of license to be exercised on the same premises may be filed within one year of the date of his last prior application except in the discretion of the licensing authorities.
Source: Massachusetts General Court (malegislature.gov)URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter138/Section15AFetched: 10/20/2026