INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana would keep its ban on Sunday retail alcohol sales and retain liquor stores as the only place to buy cold beer under recommendations Tuesday by a legislative committee that has spent two years studying alcohol issues.
But the bipartisan group did propose that the General Assembly change state law to permit alcohol sales on Election Day and require stores to check the photo identification of anyone seeking to purchase alcohol – regardless of their apparent age.
The provisions were part of a final report approved by the Interim Study Committee on Alcoholic Beverages Issues.
The report passed unanimously, although some of the individual recommendations it contained had opposition. It also won’t prohibit individual legislators from offering bills to legalize Sunday sales and let groceries and convenience stores sell cold beer.
“Despite our disappointment today, we will push forward,” said Matt Norris, director of Hoosiers for Beverage Choices, a group sponsored by the convenience and grocery industries that has collected signatures from 35,000 people who support Sunday sales.
“We’d certainly urge all those Hoosiers who support these common-sense changes to go to our web site, sign up and to let their legislators know they support these changes,” Norris said.
But the committee’s chairman, Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Boonville, said the convenience stores and groceries just weren’t convincing enough.
“The case wasn’t made,” he said.
The study committee’s action will likely make it harder for groceries and convenience stores to find enough legislative support for their proposals.
Legislators created the study committee two years ago to address some of the state’s most divisive alcohol issues and last year House and Senate leaders said they would not consider any alcohol legislation until the group finished its work.
“Leadership in both houses put a lot of emphasis on the importance of this committee,” said John Livengood, president of the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers, a trade group for liquor stores. “So I would hope the results of this committee will carry a weight.”
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Tuesday’s vote was a win for liquor stores, whose owners had argued that either allowing Sunday sales or groceries to sell beer would decimate their business. They had testified at previous meetings that Sunday sales would require them to spend money to keep their stores open and probably wouldn’t increase sales overall.
And on Tuesday, they told lawmakers that cold beer sales make up between 40 and 70 percent of their sales, depending on the location. Allowing 2,300 grocery, drug and convenience stores to sell cold beer would “destroy package stores in this state,” Livengood testified.
In the Statehouse hallway outside the committee room, a group of liquor store employees cheered Livengood’s testimony. They sat on the marble floor watching the committee action on a television because there wasn’t enough space for them in the room.
Groups fighting underage drinking also drew cheers when they opposed the cold beer and Sunday sales proposals as well.
“We have an underage drinking challenge in our community,” said Andrew Sprock of Anderson, who directs a prevention grant program. “I’m concerned that increased convenience and access will make our challenge even greater.”
Still, Maggie McShane, executive director of the Indiana Petroleum Council, which represents convenience stores, said her members simply want to better serve their customers.
“Customers tell us they want more one-stop shopping convenience,” she said.
And Chuck Taylor of C.E. Taylor Oil in Washington testified that the current law banning cold beer sales except in liquor stores is discriminatory and outdated.
“This is not about an expansion of alcohol sales,” Taylor said. “It’s simply about the temperature at which we sell beer.”
Reporter Lesley Stedman Weidenbener can be reached at (317) 444-2780.
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