Outmoded laws that impede commerce and customer convenience in an otherwise business-friendly state have no place here.
Overwhelming public support prompted the commission last week to endorse preliminary legislation for permitting retailers to sell alcohol between noon and 8 p.m. Sundays.
For years, the Hoosier state has been subject to an antiquated law, prohibiting Sunday sales of package liquor.
The commission's support for Sunday alcohol sales now is slated to be put into a final report to the General Assembly. That report is due for a Dec. 8 commission vote.
A majority of the panel's 17 members must approve the final report to forward the commission-endorsed policy changes to the Legislature.
The panel should do so, and the Legislature should act to pass the recommendations.
This is a move desired by a majority of the public — the people our elected leaders are supposed to be listening to.
The issue of Sunday sales has languished for generations, it seems, and it's time to stop the delays.
Members of the commission recommended the noon to 8 p.m. clause so alcohol sales don't overlap with most church services.
It's a good gesture of compromise for anyone arguing religious reasons for impeding Sunday alcohol sales.
But alcohol is a widespread, legal product. Religious views are not impeded by allowing those who so choose to run out to the grocery or liquor store for a six-pack during halftime of a Sunday football game.
Unfortunately, many commissioners seemed reluctant to also recommend the ability of licensed retailers, other than liquor stores, to sell cold beer. It remains to be seen whether such a measure will get a vote.
The commission should stop splitting hairs and include cold beer sales in its recommendations to the Legislature.
There's a lapse in logic here.
Hoosier gas station convenience stores, for example, already can sell cold wine. It defies logic to allow a law preventing cold package beer sales to stand.
It's time to stop pushing would-be Hoosier customers across state lines for Sunday package liquor and cold beer purchases.
That notion flies in the face of the first-rate state of commerce so many citizens and leaders are working so hard to perpetuate.