97.605 Lodging and vending licenses.

(1)

(a) No person may conduct, maintain, manage or operate a hotel, tourist rooming house, vending machine commissary or vending machine if the person has not been issued an annual license by the department or by a local health department that is granted agent status under s. 97.615 (2).

(b) No person may maintain, manage or operate a bed and breakfast establishment for more than 10 nights in a year without having first obtained an annual license from the department.

(c) Except as provided in s. 93.135, no license may be issued under this section until all applicable fees have been paid. If the payment is by check or other draft drawn upon an account containing insufficient funds, the license applicant shall, within 15 days after receipt of notice from the department of the insufficiency, pay by cashier's check or other certified draft, money order or cash the fees, late fees and processing charges that are specified by rules promulgated by the department. If the license applicant fails to pay all applicable fees, late fees and processing charges within 15 days after the applicant receives notice of the insufficiency, the license is void. In an appeal concerning voiding of a license under this paragraph, the burden is on the license applicant to show that the entire applicable fees, late fees and processing charges have been paid. During any appeal process concerning payment dispute, operation of the establishment in question is deemed to be operation without a license.

(d) If a person or establishment otherwise licensed under this chapter is incidentally engaged in an activity for which a license is required under this section, the department may, by rule, exempt the person or establishment from the license requirement under this section.

(1m) No county, city, village or town may require any license of, or impose any license or inspection fee on, a vending machine operator, vending machine commissary or vending machine licensed under this chapter.

(1p) Except as provided in s. 93.135, the department may condition the initial issuance, renewal or continued validity of a license issued under this section on correction by the licensee of a violation of this subchapter, rules promulgated by the department under this subchapter or ordinances or regulations adopted under s. 97.615 (2) (g), within a specified period of time. If the licensee fails to meet the condition within the specified period of time, the license is void.

(2) Except as provided in sub. (3), a separate license is required for each hotel, tourist rooming house, bed and breakfast establishment, or vending machine commissary.

(3)

(a) A bulk milk dispenser may be operated in a restaurant without a vending machine or vending machine operator license.

(b) A restaurant may operate as a vending machine commissary without a vending machine commissary license.

(4)

(a) In this subsection:

1. “Business entity" has the meaning given in s. 179.70 (1).

2. “Immediate family member" means a spouse, grandparent, parent, sibling, child, stepchild, or grandchild or the spouse of a grandparent, parent, sibling, child, stepchild, or grandchild.

(b) Except as provided in par. (d) or (e), no license is transferable from one premises to another or from one person to another.

(d) The holder of a license issued under this section may transfer the license to an individual who is an immediate family member if the holder is transferring operation of the hotel, tourist rooming house, bed and breakfast establishment, or vending machine to the immediate family member.

(e) A sole proprietorship that reorganizes as a business entity or a business entity that reorganizes as either a sole proprietorship or a different type of business entity may transfer a license issued under this section for operation of a hotel, tourist rooming house, bed and breakfast establishment, or vending machine commissary to the newly formed business entity or sole proprietorship if the following conditions are satisfied:

1. The hotel, tourist rooming house, bed and breakfast establishment, or vending machine commissary remains at the location for which the license was issued.

2. At least one individual who had an ownership interest in the sole proprietorship or business entity to which the license was issued has an ownership interest in the newly formed sole proprietorship or business entity.

(5)

(a) Except as provided in par. (b), all licenses expire on June 30, except that licenses initially issued during the period beginning on April 1 and ending on June 30 expire on June 30 of the following year.

(b)

1. The local health department of a city of the 1st class that has entered into an agreement with the department under s. 97.615 (2) may issue a license for a bed and breakfast establishment required under this section at any time during the year. A license issued under this subdivision shall expire one year from the date of its issuance.

2. The holder of a license for a bed and breakfast establishment may request an extension to the term of a license issued under this section by the local health department of a city of the 1st class that has entered into an agreement with the department under s. 97.615 (2) for the purpose of aligning the annual term of any other license or permit issued to that license holder with the annual term of a license to be issued to that license holder under subd. 1. The local health department may require a license holder that receives an extension under this subdivision to pay a prorated fee in an amount determined by dividing the license fee imposed under s. 97.615 (2) by 12 and multiplying the quotient by the number of months by which the license issued under this section is extended under this subdivision.

History: 1975 c. 413 ss. 13, 18; Stats. 1975 s. 50.51; 1983 a. 163, 203; 1987 a. 27, 81, 399; 1989 a. 31; 1993 a. 16 ss. 1491, 1492; 1993 a. 27 s. 67; Stats. 1993 s. 254.64; 1993 a. 183, 491; 1997 a. 191; 2001 a. 16; 2005 a. 302; 2013 a. 298; 2015 a. 55 s. 4080; Stats. 2015 s. 97.6705; 2015 a. 197 s. 51.