May 29, 1975

Senator Jake Krull
Box 222
Watertown, South Dakota 57201

OFFICIAL OPINION NO. 75-94

Reissuance of liquor licenses

Dear Senator Krull:

You have requested my opinion as to the proper interpretation of SB 124 relating to liquor licenses. SB 124 provides:

No licensing authority shall reissue any on-sale or off-sale license to the same applicant for a one-year period if said license has not been actively used by the applicant during the two years preceding the date of the current application.

SB 124 was an act to add a new section to SDCL 35-2. Your question con­cerns the issue of when the two-year period referred to in SB 124 begins to apply. Does the two-year period there described begin to run as of July 1, 1975, or as of some other date?

The provisions of SB 124 contemplate that the two year period of non-use of the license shall be the two-year period preceding the date of the current application. This language clearly indicates that July 1, 1975, is not the determining date in this respect. Since the Legislature clearly intended this retrospective effect, the general rule of prospective construction does not control. In re Sadler's Estate, 73 S.D. 56, 38 N.W. 2d 879 (1949).

SDCL 35-4-41 provides for the duration and expiration of liquor licenses. According to SDCL 35-4-41, liquor licenses operate for a period of one year, from midnight December 31 to the following December 31, at mid­night. Whenever an applicant applies for a license, the date is set which marks the point from which the two year retrospective period of SB 124 begins to run.

Sincerely,

WILLIAM J. JANKLOW
ATTORNEY GENERAL

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