Chapter 30. Licensing and Regulations Generally.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-1 (2026)
Sec. 30-1. Picnics, dances, soirees, parties, and other entertainment—License or permit required.LinkCopy Citation
It shall be unlawful for any person to hold in the county any picnic, dance, soiree, party, or other entertainment for gain or profit to which the general public is admitted, without having first obtained a permit or license for the activity.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-2 (2026)
Sec. 30-2. Same-Authority to regulate, etc.LinkCopy Citation
The fees for licenses issued under this chapter shall be of such an amount as the county executive by regulation, adopted under method (3) of section 2A-15 of this Code, may set from time to time and shall not exceed the cost of administering this chapter. The permit fee so fixed shall be submitted with the application and is not refundable in whole or in part. The county executive is authorized to adopt such regulations, under method (3) of section 2A-15 of this Code, in connection with such permit, license and fee, as are necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-3 (2026)
Sec. 30-3. Penalty for violations of section 30-1.LinkCopy Citation
(a)
Any violation of Section 30-1 or any regulation issued under it is a class A violation.
(b)
Notwithstanding Section 1-19, for any violation of Section 30-1 occurring at a residential property, the civil penalty must be in an amount not to exceed $5,000, except that this Section 30-3(b) does not apply when the entire gain or profit derived from the prohibited activity directly benefits an organization registered under a following section of the Internal Revenue Code: § 501(c)(3), § 501(c)(4), § 501(c)(5), § 501(c)(6), § 501(c)(7); § 501(c)(8); § 501(c)(10); § 501(c)(19); § 501(k); or § 527.
(c)
Notwithstanding Section 1-19, for any violation of a following section occurring at a residential property during the same occurrence as a violation of Section 30-1, the civil penalty for each violation must be in an amount not to exceed $5,000, except that this Section 30-3(c) does not apply when the entire gain or profit derived from the prohibited activity directly benefits an organization registered under a following section of the Internal Revenue Code: § 501(c)(3), § 501(c)(4), § 501(c)(5), § 501(c)(6), § 501(c)(7); § 501(c)(8); § 501(c)(10); § 501(c)(19); § 501(k); or § 527:
(1)
Section 31B-5;
(2)
Section 59.3.1.6 of the Zoning Ordinance; or
(3)
Section 59.3.5.10 of the Zoning Ordinance.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-4 (2026)
Sec. 30-4. Benefit performances.LinkCopy Citation
(a)
A bona fide non-profit organization may conduct a performance for the exclusive benefit of a volunteer fire department, or a charitable, benevolent, patriotic, fraternal, educational, religious or civic object. A benefit performance includes an outdoor or indoor carnival, fair, picnic, dance, card party, bazaar, concert, contest, horse show, exhibition, lecture, barbecue, or dinner, to which the public is invited or admitted, with or without charge for admission. The net proceeds must benefit solely the non-profit organization.
(b)
Before conducting any benefit performance, any organization must obtain from the Director of Permitting Services a written permit under this Chapter. A benefit performance must be managed by the organization that will benefit from it, and may be operated by or with a contractor of that organization.
(c)
Any person who conducts a benefit performance in violation of this Section has committed a class A violation.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-5 (2026)
Sec. 30-5. Public amusements, clubhouses, sanitariums, hospitals, etc.-Generally.LinkCopy Citation
(a)
The council is hereby empowered to prescribe by law for the licensing and regulation within the limits of the county any place of public amusement or recreation, pleasure parks, picnic grounds, clubhouses, theatrical exhibitions, baseball grounds, bowling alleys, billiard halls or poolrooms, camp-meeting grounds, graveyards, sanitariums, hospitals, homes for the aged, private educational institutions, orphan asylums, homes for children and convalescent homes, signs or signboards, roadside stands or establishments; and in order to safeguard the public health, safety, morals and welfare, to pass regulations for the purpose of carrying out the powers herein granted or to authorize the county executive to issue regulations to implement any law; provided, that such regulations shall contain proper standards for the exercise of the discretion conferred herein and shall operate uniformly; provided further, that the power of the council to license, regulate or limit clubhouses shall not apply to the clubhouses of country clubs which were in existence and operation on January 1, 1927, and which on that date had a public or private list of fifty (50) or more bona fide members paying dues and which on that date maintained on the club premises at least two (2) of the following athletic facilities for their membership:
(1)
A golf course of nine (9) holes or more;
(2)
Two (2) or more tennis courts; or
(3)
A swimming pool not less than forty (40) feet in length and twenty (20) feet in width.
(b)
Any regulation adopted under this section shall be adopted under method (2) of section 2A-15 of this Code.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-6 (2026)
Sec. 30-6. Same-Licensing.LinkCopy Citation
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate, set up, establish or conduct any business or enterprise mentioned in the preceding section of this Code, unless such person shall first obtain a license, if such is required by any rule, regulation or law passed under the authority of the preceding section, for the operation of such business enterprise and shall pay such sum as may be fixed as a license fee for the business or enterprises so operated or established; provided, that any person, house, company, association or body corporate that shall operate or establish any business or enterprise mentioned in the preceding section without first having procured the license prescribed, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined as prescribed by law not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for such offense or such other penalty as provided in such law.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-7 (2026)
Sec. 30-7. Pawnbrokers-Defined.LinkCopy Citation
The term "pawnbroker" includes any person or members of a corporation or firm who loans money on deposits or pledge on personal property or other valuable thing, other than securities or printed evidences of indebtedness, or who deals in the purchasing of personal property or other valuable things on condition of selling the same back at a stipulated price.
"(a) Notwithstanding any provision of Chapter 8, Chapter 59, or any other County law to the contrary, the Director of the Department of Permitting Services must not issue or allow the transfer of a certificate of use and occupancy between July 22, 1997, and September 30, 1998, for any nonresidential use of property by a pawnbroker.
(b)
Notwithstanding any provision of Chapter 8, Chapter 59, or any other County law to the contrary, any certificate of use and occupancy issued between July 22, 1997, and September 30, 1998, for the nonresidential use of property by a pawnbroker is void.
(c)
Subsections (a) and (b) do not prohibit the Director from issuing a use and occupancy certificate for the nonresidential use of property ("new location") by a pawnbroker that holds a valid use and occupancy certificate for the use of another property ("current location") in the County if:
(1)
both the current location and the new location are owned by the same property owner;
(2)
the new location adjoins the current location directly or through one or more properties owned by the same property owner;
(3)
the total floor space (square footage) of the new location is not more than 100 percent larger than the total floor space of the current location; and
(4)
the pawnbroker surrenders the use and occupancy certificate for the current location when the Director issues a certificate for the new location.
(d)
In this Act, pawnbroker means a pawnbroker as defined in Section 30-7 of the County Code or Section 12-101(e) of the Maryland Secondhand Precious Metal Object Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act."
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-8 (2026)
Sec. 30-8. Same-Regulation and licensing generally.LinkCopy Citation
(a)
The council is hereby authorized to provide by law for the regulation and licensing of pawnbrokers and their activities, as it shall deem necessary to promote the public health, safety, morals and welfare of the community.
(b)
Any regulation adopted under this section shall be adopted under method (3) of section 2A-15 of this Code.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-9 (2026)
Sec. 30-9. Closing-out sales-Authority to regulate.LinkCopy Citation
The council is hereby authorized and empowered to provide by law for the licensing and conduct of any sale which is advertised to be a termination of business or a cessation of the operation of such business or a transfer to a new name or any other such sale in connection with which there is any representation by the individual, partnership, voluntary association or corporation conducting such sale, that the sale is being conducted or is required or compelled to be conducted, for reason of economic or business distress, or inability to continue business for any reason; or any other expression or characterization closely similar to any of the foregoing and calculated to convey to the public the information or belief that upon the disposal of the goods to be placed on sale, the business being conducted at any location will cease, or be discontinued, or otherwise be vacated or transferred, surrendered or handed over to a successor in business or conducted under a new name; or a sale in anticipation of, or in avoidance of termination, liquidation, revision, windup, discontinuation, conclusion, dissolution or abandonment.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-10 (2026)
Sec. 30-10. Closing-out sales.LinkCopy Citation
(a)
Definition.
(1)
In this section, "closing-out sale" means any sale in connection with which the person conducting the sale represents that the sale is being conducted, or must be conducted, for reasons of
(A)
economic or business distress,
(B)
inability to continue business at the same location, or
(C)
the age or health of an owner of the business.
(2)
"Closing-out sale" includes any sale advertised, represented or held under the designation of "going out of business," "discontinuance of business," "selling out," "liquidation," "lost our lease," "must vacate," "forced out," "removal" or any similar designation, but does not include the closing out of an item of merchandise.
(b)
License required.
(1)
A person must not advertise or offer for sale in the County merchandise under the description of “closing-out sale” or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water or otherwise, unless the owner of the business obtains a license to conduct the sale from the Director of the Office of Consumer Protection.
(2)
The owner of the business where the proposed sale will take place must file an application with the Director, in writing and under oath, at least 14 days before the opening date of the sale, disclosing all relevant facts relating to the sale, including:
(A)
the first and last dates of the proposed sale;
(B)
the date when the owner of the business intends to stop the operations of the business at the location or locations listed in the application;
(C)
a complete inventory of the merchandise to be sold;
(D)
a list of all persons with an ownership interest in the business if the business does not have publicly-traded shares;
(E)
the text of all advertising that will be placed in print or electronic media in connection with the proposed sale; and
(F)
all details necessary to locate exactly and identify the merchandise to be sold.
(3)
If the Director is satisfied from the application that the proposed sale is consistent with the proposed advertising, the Director may issue a license, upon payment of a fee in an amount set by regulation under method (3).
(4)
The Director must not issue a license if the person conducting the proposed sale or any owner of the business had authority, alone or with others, to stop the operations or change the location of a business that conducted a closing-out sale within the previous 3 years unless:
(A)
the proposed sale will be conducted under the direction of a federal bankruptcy trustee; or
(B)
the person conducting the proposed sale or any owner of the business did not have a significant ownership or managerial role in the previous closing-out sale.
(c)
Buying new stocks for closing-out sale prohibited.
(1)
A person must not order any merchandise for the purpose of selling it at a closing-out sale.
(2)
Any unusual purchase and additions to a stock of merchandise within 60 days before an application for a license to conduct a closing-out sale is filed, while the application is pending, or during the sale is prima facie evidence that the purchases and additions to stock were made for the purpose of selling them at the sale. An unusual purchase or addition to a stock of goods is a purchase or addition not made in the ordinary course of business.
(d)
Penalty for violation of this section. Any violation of this section is a class A violation. Each day a violation continues is a separate offense.
Sec. 2. Regulations. A regulation which implements a function transferred to the Office of Consumer Protection by this Act continues in effect until otherwise amended or repealed, but any reference to any predecessor department or office must be treated as referring to the Office of Consumer Protection.
Sec. 3. Transition. This act does not invalidate or affect any action taken by the Department of Housing and Community Affairs before this Act took effect. Any responsibility or right granted by law, regulation, contract, or other document, and which is associated with a function transferred by this Act from the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, is transferred to the Office of Consumer Protection.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-11 (2026)
Sec. 30-11. License fees generally.LinkCopy Citation
The council shall fix and enforce a uniform schedule of fees for licensing any class of business or enterprise as it may deem necessary, or the county executive by regulation, adopted under method (3) of section 2A-15 of this Code, may establish such fees, not to exceed the reasonable costs of licensing and enforcement. All fees so determined shall be collected and paid over to the director of finance for the use of the county.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-12 (2026)
Sec. 30-12. Alcoholic beverages—Consumption on public property.LinkCopy Citation
The County Executive may, under Method 3, adopt regulations governing the consumption of alcoholic beverages on “public property” as that phrase is defined in Title 19, Subtitle 2 of Article 2B of the Maryland Code.
Montgomery County, Md., Code § 30-13 (2026)
Sec. 30-13. Uniform Trader’s License Fee.LinkCopy Citation
(a)
The County selects a uniform license fee for a trader’s license under Section 17-1807.1 of the Business Regulation Article of the Maryland Code.
(b)
The trader’s license in the County must be $15 under Section 17-1808(b) of the Business Regulation Article of the Maryland Code.
Sec. 3. Submission of Selection. On or before October 1, 2020, the Director of Finance or the Director’s designee must notify the State, using a form provided by the State Comptroller and the State Department of Assessments and Taxation, of the County’s selection of a uniform trader’s license fee under this Act.
Sec. 4. Revocability of Selection. Under Section 17-1801.1 of the Business Regulation Article of the Maryland Code, the selection of a uniform $15 trader’s license fee is “irrevocable”. However, the County reserves its right to revoke its selection if the State amends Sections 17-1807.1 or Section 17-1808(b) of the Business Regulation Article, including if the State raises the license fee above $15.