As if Indiana’s rules regarding the sale of alcoholic beverages aren’t complicated enough, lawmakers aim to muddy the waters a little bit more with a confusing attempt to clean up complaints about the laws.
If you’ve missed the debate, it centers around Indiana’s Prohibition-era laws surrounding the sale of alcohol on Sundays. Indiana is the last state that prohibits all alcohol sales on Sunday in groceries, pharmacies, liquor and convenience stores. In the past 12 years, 16 states have allowed some kind of Sunday carryout sales. There are a variety of explanations for why the issue hasn’t gained traction in the past, including committee heads’ refusal to schedule a hearing and not having strong support for it one way or the other.
But, in a move that signals unprecedented support for Sunday sales, a bill — House Bill 1624 — has been filed by Indiana House Public Policy Committee Chairman Tom Dermody. The bill allows any holder of an alcoholic beverage permit — liquor, drug and grocery stores — to sell alcoholic beverages on Sundays, but only from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The rule would also allow microbreweries to continue to sell beer and farm wineries to continue to sell wine on Sundays, from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. the next day. It also lifts limits on the commodities liquor stores can sell, allowing them to peddle paper cups, chips and snacks, if they wish.
Most of the rules included in the bill seem like a compromise that could help level the playing field for liquor stores and grocery stores, except for limit on hours.
What exactly does limiting sale hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. accomplish outside of adding more perplexity as to when sales are allowed and when they aren’t? If lawmakers don’t want to open it up to the same hours allowed with Monday-through-Saturday sales, then they should leave the law alone.
Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, noted in a previous story, that he sees both sides of the policy decision. On the one hand, he said, people should be able to buy enough in six days to have enough on the seventh day of the week, and their focus shouldn’t be on alcohol on Sundays. On the other hand, people are going to drink on Sunday whether there’s a law preventing carryout sales or not.
“It comes down to what you should be doing with your time on Sunday,” Steele said. “I’m sure when it was passed, a lot of people thought you should be at church.”
And that’s probably true, but it appears by limiting Sunday hours, legislators may still trying to pacify faith-based supporters. But that argument loses its grit when alcoholic beverages are sold freely on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays — all of which are meeting days for churches.
According to a recent WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey, more than 52 percent of Indiana residents support Sunday alcohol sales, while 46 percent oppose the idea.
We’ve said before that Indiana needs to do away with its antiquated laws on Sunday alcohol sales, and it does. But the current bill headed to lawmakers doesn’t quite make the cut.
As Steele noted, one thing is for sure when it comes to Sunday sales: “Indiana’s not going to die because of it or be a better state because of it.”