AGO 97014.

CourtNebraska
Nebraska Attorney General Opinions 1997. AGO 97014. DATE: February 21, 1997SUBJECT: Constitutionality of LB 482 REQUESTED BY: Senator Stan Schellpeper, Chairperson, General Affairs CommitteeWRITTEN BY: Don Stenberg, Attorney General Laurie Smith Camp, Deputy Attorney General You have asked whether a provision in LB 482 would withstand constitutional scrutiny. Specifically, you request our opinion on the constitutionality of the following language contained in Sections 4 and 16 of the bill: Nothing in the act shall be construed or interpreted to limit the powers of local governing bodies to (1) suspend, cancel and revoke retail licenses, bottle club licenses, and craft brewery licenses . . . . . . . . The governing body of any city or village with respect to licenses within its corporate limits and the governing body of any county with respect to licenses not within the corporate limits of any city or village but within the county shall have the following powers, functions, and duties with respect to retail, bottle club, and craft brewery licenses: . . . . (2) To suspend, cancel or revoke, after receiving a citizen's complaint pursuant to Section 53-134.04 or on its own motion, any license if it determines that the licensee has violated any provision of the Nebraska Liquor Control act, any rule or Senator Stan Schellpeper February 21, 1997 Page -2- regulation adopted and promulgated pursuant to the Act, or any ordinance, resolution, rule, or regulation relating to alcoholic liquor. Any administrative proceeding instituted by a local governing body to suspend, cancel, or revoke a license shall be a contested case conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. Such order of suspension, cancellation or revocation shall be subject to review as provided in Section 53-1,116 . . . . As you note in your letter, the Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled that state laws which provided local governing bodies with authority to approve or deny retail liquor licenses were unconstitutional because they delegated authority to the local governing bodies without sufficient, definite, and adequate standards to guide those affected by them. In Bosselman, Inc. v. State, 230 Neb. 471 (1988), the Nebraska Supreme Court found that LB 911, passed in 1986, unconstitutionally delegated the state's legislative power...

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