Ind. Assembly may consider Sunday alcohol sales again

Indiana could legalize Sunday alcohol sales if a bill that will be proposed by State Sen. Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville), passes in the Indiana General Assembly this session.

“It’s time for government to get out of the way and allow people to make the purchases they want to make,” Boots said.

He said this is an important legislative issue because it could add convenience for consumers and help the state earn more tax revenue.

“A lot of people are crossing state lines to make purchases in surrounding counties,” Boots said. “Anything we can do to make it more convenient for people to make their purchases, we ought to.”

But Boots faces opposition from within the General Assembly and from the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers.

Boots proposed similar legislation in 2009 that did not receive a committee hearing because there was not very much support for it in the Committee for Commerce, Public Policy and Interstate Cooperation, said State Sen. Ron Alting (R-Lafayette), committee chairman.

“If there’s no support for it, then I won’t hear it,” Alting said. “We kind of have to wait and see.”

Alting said he cannot guarantee the bill will receive a hearing this year because he refuses to consider any bills without at least some committee support.

“It was voted down in conference committee two years ago,” he said. “I think they have an uphill battle.”

The IABR strongly opposes this legislation and has asked liquor store owners across the state to help their effort by asking members of the General Assembly to vote against the bill.

In particular, the IABR is worried because the state currently allows grocery stores, drug stores and convenience stores to sell alcohol with very few restrictions. Even with the addition of Sunday sales, IABR President John Livengood said package liquor stores will not see the increase in profits they would need to operate an additional day.

“If they (grocery, drug and convenience stores) were allowed to steal sales from package stores, which is what would happen, a lot of liquor stores would go out of business,” Livengood said. “I can’t imagine a scenario in which we could compete with Kroger, WalMart and Circle K.”

For Boots, the change would be primarily for the sake of convenience, and he’s confident in the bill’s ability to pass.

“I expect that if it gets a hearing, it would ultimately pass,” he said.

Boots also said the bill provides for increased licensing fees, which would be required only of non-package liquor stores such as grocery, drug and convenience stores that choose to sell alcohol.

But Livengood remains skeptical of liquor stores’ abilities to compete if Sunday sales are added.

“For a significant number of them, it could be enough business to put them out of business,” he said.