Liquor board-backed bill would drop Sept. 30 special-Sunday deadline, align tax timing for Baltimore license renewals

Michelle Wurzberger, deputy executive secretary for the Baltimore City Liquor Board, told the Alcoholic Beverage Subcommittee that House Bill 1425 makes two technical changes intended to simplify compliance for licensees while keeping the board’s regulatory authority intact. “This bill … creates 2 changes, basically, that will allow us to simplify our processes, make them a little bit less cumbersome for licensees while not in any way negatively impacting our ability to regulate licensees,” Wurzberger said.

The first change would eliminate a statutory Sept. 30 application deadline for a special Sunday license that allows Class A (packaged-goods) stores to sell alcohol on designated holiday Sundays. Wurzberger said the special license — used for Thanksgiving and New Year’s — permits sales between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m., and that the existing Sept. 30 deadline is “artificial” because it falls months before the holiday and can prevent otherwise eligible merchants from operating legally.

The bill’s second change would move the city’s requirement that licensees be current on personal-property taxes to the regular April renewal timeline so that tax compliance and annual renewal paperwork occur together. Wurzberger described the current Oct. 30 personal-property deadline as “disjointed” from the April renewal and said aligning the dates would reduce administrative burden for both licensees and the Liquor Board.

Delegate Boyce, speaking during committee questioning, endorsed the customer-service rationale for the Sept. 30 change and asked whether the personal-property tax change would effectively let businesses “do it all at once” during renewal; Wurzberger confirmed that was the intent.

Committee members also addressed a drafting error in the bill’s renewal date language. The subcommittee adopted a technical amendment that corrects the renewal deadline language to March 31; the amendment was moved, seconded and approved by roll-call vote. The committee then voted to move HB 1425 as amended; the roll-call vote was unanimous (Delegates Addison, Boyce, Smith and Clippinger voted yes). The subcommittee forwarded the bill to the full Baltimore City delegation for the Friday hearing.

The Liquor Board framed the changes as administrative: Wurzberger said they do not alter the city’s inspection or enforcement authority but would reduce timing mismatches that sometimes force licensees into extra, avoidable compliance steps. The measure will next be considered by the full city delegation at its scheduled Friday hearing.