House panel approves liquor sales in grocery stores
Shoppers may soon be able to pick up a bottle of Jack just down the aisle from the potato chips and breakfast cereals.
At first glance, repealing the dusty Depression-era law that mandates liquor must be sold in a separate store, away from groceries, seems like an easy fix.
But on Tuesday, the House Government Operations and Technology Appropriations Subcommittee approved the bill by a razor-thin 7-6 vote, with and on both sides of the issue.
That reflects the vote in the bill’s previous House committee hearing, when it passed 8-7.
Despite the superficial simplicity, the so-called “whiskey and Wheaties” bill is one of the most heavily lobbied in the legislative session.
This is the fourth year in a row the Legislature has tried to repeal the law, which dates to the early 1930s and was originally passed in order to slow the reintroduction of alcohol into Florida in the wake of the end of Prohibition.
But those who want to keep the law in place argue that liquor and supermarket stores have created their business models under the current regulations and that they stand to lose out by repealing the law.
, a towering force in Florida politics owing to its employment numbers and heavy political contributions, is foremost among these critics, as many of its supermarkets already feature separate liquor stores and reconfiguring to integrate liquor into the supermarket would be expensive, though the bill does not require businesses to make the change.
Independent liquor stores have also lined up against the bill, saying that allowing liquor sales in big stores would be the death knell of their businesses.
The forces pushing for change are just as powerful — big box stores like Wal-Mart and Target, which contend that the current system is an inconvenience to customers.
The people and industries lobbying against the bill say it would increase alcohol consumption by minors. But the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah, disputes that.
“Thirty other states already allow spirits to be sold in grocery stores and there’s no evidence to support a rash in underage drinking,” he said. “The data has shown that most underage drinkers obtain alcohol from friends or family members who have purchased it legally.”
Nor did Avila find persuasive the argument that independent liquor stores would be crushed by liquor sales in big box stores.
“In several of the states that do not have a separation, such as California, Arizona, Nebraska and Missouri, big box stores hold less than 10 percent of liquor licenses,” he said.
But owners of independent liquor stores across Florida made the trip to Tallahassee on Tuesday to explain that security at their stores means less kids getting less booze.
“We take pride in making sure that my neighbors’ kids are not served in my store,” said George Knightly, who owns five liquor stores in the Orlando area. “They will get served over and over again in a grocery store because those cashiers don’t know them. It means nothing to them selling alcohol to a minor. It means nothing.”
The bill would create two kinds of liquor licenses. A Type A license would include traditional liquor stores that don’t sell groceries. Type B, which would be slightly more expensive, with the increase in cost varying depending on county population, would be for supermarkets and big box stores.
The bill has one more committee before going to the House floor for a vote. A similar bill has cleared all of its committees in the Senate but has not yet been voted on by the full body.
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