Sec. 1. 28-A MRSA §2, sub-§27-A is enacted to read:

27-A.__Reselling agent.__"Reselling agent" means an agency liquor store with a federal and state license permitting the agency liquor store to sell spirits to a retail licensee licensed for on-premises consumption.

Sec. 2. 28-A MRSA §453, as amended by PL 1997, c. 373, §46, is further amended to read:

§453. Location of agency stores

1. Location requirements. The bureau may license an agency liquor store only when the following requirements are met.

A. The proposed agency liquor store is located in a municipality or unincorporated place that has voted in favor of the operation of state liquor stores under local option provisions.

C. The proposed agency liquor store is not within 3.5 miles of an existing state liquor store or an existing agency liquor store that was licensed before May 1, 1993.

D. If a state liquor store closes, the bureau may grant more than one agency store license in a municipality when the bureau considers it appropriate. Agency liquor stores licensed before May 1, 1993 that replace closed state liquor stores are exempt from the distance requirement in paragraph C.

2. Replacement of state or agency liquor stores. The alcohol bureau may not replace a state liquor store and the bureau may not replace an existing agency liquor store that closes with a new agency liquor store if there is another state or existing agency liquor store within 3.5 miles. This subsection does not prevent the bureau from locating a replacement agency liquor store within 3.5 miles of another replacement agency liquor store for the same town.

2-A. Replacement of state liquor stores. The bureau may replace a closed state liquor store closed after July 1, 1990 with 3 with an agency liquor stores store if:

A. The agency stores are within a 10-mile radius of the location of the closed state liquor store; and