2005 West Virginia Code - §60-4-22. — Wholesale representatives\' licenses.

§60-4-22. Wholesale representatives' licenses.
No person, firm or corporation shall be or act or serve as an agent, broker or salesman selling or offering to sell or soliciting or negotiating the sale of alcoholic liquor to the commission or to any distributor licensed pursuant to article eight of this chapter without first obtaining a license so to do in accordance with the provisions of this section. Only salaried employees of distilleries, manufacturers, producers or processors of alcoholic liquor may be licensed hereunder, and no person may be licensed hereunder who sells or offers to sell alcoholic liquor to the commission or any distributor on a fee or commission basis. The commission shall be the licensing authority and may grant to persons of good moral character the license herein provided, and may refuse to grant such license to any person heretofore convicted of a felony within ten years prior to his application for such license; refuse to grant, suspend or revoke licenses. Licenses shall be on an annual basis for the period from the first day of July until the thirtieth day of June next following. New and renewal licenses shall be granted only upon verified application to the commission presented on forms provided by the commission. Any person representing more than one producer, manufacturer, or distributor of alcoholic liquors shall file a separate application and shall obtain a separate license for each such representation. The annual license fee shall be one hundred dollars. The fee for any license granted for the remainder of any license year between the first day of January and the thirtieth day of June of the same calendar year shall be fifty dollars.
No person who is the father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of a member of the commission or of any elected or appointed state official, county official or municipal official, or who is the spouse of any such person so related to a member of the commission or to any elected or appointive state official, county official or municipal official, may be granted a license hereunder. No member of the Legislature or the spouse of any such member may be granted a license hereunder. Nor shall any member or officer of any political party executive committee of this state or the spouse of any such member or officer be granted a license hereunder.
In addition to all other information which the commission may require to be supplied on the license application forms, each applicant shall be required to state his name and his residence address and the name and business address of the producer, manufacturer or distributor he represents; the name and address of each additional producer, manufacturer or distributor of alcoholic liquors he represents; the monetary total of all alcoholic liquor sales, if any, made by him to the commission or to any distributor licensed pursuant to article eight of this chapter during the fiscal year preceding the license year for which he is seeking a license; the monetary total of the gross income received by him on such sales, if any, during such fiscal year; whether he has, during such fiscal year, made or given, voluntarily or on request, any gift, contribution of money or property to any member or employee of the commission or of any distributor licensed pursuant to article eight of this chapter or to or for the benefit of any political party committee or campaign fund; and his relationship, if any, by blood or marriage, to any member of the commission or to any elected or appointive state official, county official or municipal official. All such applications shall be verified by oath of the applicant and shall be prepared and filed in duplicate. All such applications and a current list of all licensees hereunder shall be matters of public record and shall be available to public inspection at the commission's offices at the state capitol. Every licensee who ceases to be an agent, broker or salesman, as herein contemplated, shall so advise the commission in writing and such person's name shall be immediately removed from the license list and his license shall be canceled and terminated.
Except as to owners, principal officers or employees of farm wineries, all persons licensed hereunder shall be full- time salaried employees of the distilleries, manufacturers, producers or processors of alcoholic liquor they represent and shall devote their full time to the duties of such employment and shall have and engage in no other remunerative occupation or calling at the same time. No such licensed person shall share, divide or split his salary with any person other than his wife, or some legal dependent, nor shall he make any contribution to any political party campaign fund in this state.
All licensees hereunder shall be subject to all other provisions of this chapter and to the lawful rules and regulations promulgated by the commission. Licenses may be refused, suspended or revoked by the commission for cause, including any of the applicable grounds of revocation specified in section nineteen of this article. Provisions of this article relating to notice, hearing and appeals shall, to the extent applicable, govern procedures on suspension and revocation of licenses hereunder.
Any person, firm or corporation violating any provision of this section, including knowingly making of any false statement in a verified application for a license, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor offense and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisoned in jail not exceeding twelve months, or be subject to both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.