The Joint Committee on Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure has voted favorably on the "Wareham Jobs Bill," which seeks eight additional year-round liquor licenses for the town - a big step forward for the legislation.

"The eight liquor licenses cleared the hurdle," Town Administrator Mark Andrews said. The bill will be sent to the State Senate next.

The Joint Committee has strict regulations for granting above-quota liquor licenses. Because the number of liquor licenses issued to a town is based on its population, the town must request any licenses above its quota through legislation.

"We are happy with the committee's action and we will take that action and start to work on [the bill] in the Senate," said State Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton). "This has been going on for some time and we are very happy that this has finally gotten to this point."

The new licenses would be "site-specific," meaning that they are already earmarked for certain locations, though the business owners must go through the process of applying for a license and the Board of Selectmen would still have to approve the application.

"Whoever asked first got a shot at them," Andrews said.

If a business closes, the liquor license "evaporates," Andrews said. If a business moves, the owner must petition for a transfer of the license.

The legislation is called the "Wareham Jobs Bill" by Rep. Susan Williams Gifford (R-Wareham), Pacheco, and Andrews because of the impact additional licenses could have on economic development and job creation.

"I'm happy it appears that [the bill] is making progress, but I'm still cautiously optimistic until I see for myself that it's actually moved out" of the committee, Gifford said, noting that the bill has not officially moved to the Senate yet.

The news comes just under a month after Rep. Theodore Speliotis (D-Danvers), House Chairman of the Joint Committee, visited Wareham to tour restaurants seeking year-round licenses and to visit sites, such as the A.D. Makepeace Rosebrook property, for which restaurants are planned.

Andrews said Speliotis' visit to Wareham was beneficial to moving the legislation forward. "He got to learn a lot about us, and we got to learn a lot about him," Andrews said.

Andrews said he hopes the bill will be on Governor Deval Patrick's desk within 50 to 60 days. The committee voting favorably "was a big move forward, a solid move forward," he said.