Sunday Liquor Sales and other Beer/Liquor Legislation

[David Greene]

(as an aside, I also asked about bonding re SWLRT and what our reps are doing to counteract Dibble and Hornstein, and I thought the response to these questions were pretty good).

What was their response on this? Probably should move that to the SWLRT thread.

[sad panda]

(as an aside, I also asked about bonding re SWLRT and what our reps are doing to counteract Dibble and Hornstein, and I thought the response to these questions were pretty good).

What was their response on this? Probably should move that to the SWLRT thread.

It's on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnUvzxKh-5A

[twincitizen]

No posts since last year's debacle where a single Senator Skoe (aligned with Teamsters) prevented us from being able to buy growlers on Sunday.

This year there are multiple proposals floating around the legislature, from total repeal to growlers-only, and an interesting "local option" compromise bill that would allow each municipality to decide for themselves whether to allow sales on Sunday.

Here's the latest hijinks: http://www.startribune.com/politics/sta ... 88881.html

AFAIK, these bills typically come up quite late in the session, so I have no idea where they're at in committee at present time. Everything is still on the table as far as I can tell. Every bill has bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition. In 2011 or 2012, a Sunday Sales bill actually made it to the House floor for a vote and it failed miserably, like 40-120 something, so don't take this for granted for a second. Governor Dayton has said he'll sign any Sunday sales bill that reaches his desk, but he won't be out there advocating for it. If this is something you want to see, get involved! Even among our urban reps and senators, support is still pretty split.

[twincitizen]

Full repeal still not likely to pass: http://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/2 ... -in-house/

[MNdible]

The Bakk has made it clear that he does not support it, so best to just move along.

[twincitizen]

He is just the worst. What would be the precedent for the DFL to replace him as Majority Leader? In the event that we retake the MN House in 2016, we'll be sure to install someone from Greater MN as Speaker, but for the love of MN, The Bakk has got to go!

RE: That MPRticle, so even though the House Commerce Committee Chair opposes Sunday Sales, and knows the bill wouldn't pass committee, he sounds pretty open to letting the bill reach the House floor for a vote (by way of holding an "informal hearing" in committee, is that how that works?) Or if not that, it can always be attached to the Omnibus Liquor Bill as an amendment. Back in 2012, when Repubs last ran the House, such an amendment failed 97-25. Despite since flipping a bunch of suburban seats to blue, and then re-flipping 11 rural seats back to red (and probably generally resulting in younger / less puritanical representatives in both parties), I think we're still nowhere near the 68 votes to pass, even with a friendly in Speaker Daudt.

Of course, there's still the whole issue of Bakk, Skoe, and those other old toolbags who would never let it see the light of day in the Senate. That played out last year as several libertarian-leaning Republican Senators (Brandon Petersen,etc.) flung a volley of amendments at the omnibus bill, from growlers-only to full repeal. The growlers-only amendment actually stuck, but then the bill's DFL author TABLED THE BILL because of the whole Teamster issue.

[gpete]

Even if Bakk opposes, Sunday sales could be brought to the floor as an amendment to the omnibus liquor bill.

I really wouldn't hold your breath. Many municipalities own and operate liquor stores that are vital for their budgets. They oppose Sunday sales and they probably have more clout than the Teamsters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[twincitizen]

Yes, municipal liquor does have its own organization/lobby: http://www.municipalbev.com/, which strongly opposes Sunday sales. However, that organization itself doesn't have a lot of money or do a lot of lobbying on its own. It's really the individual legislators who represent areas with municipal liquor that are standing in the way.

The big powerful lobby in this issue is still the MLBA http://www.mlba.com/
They are the ones with money and lobbyists that are fighting the hardest.
They've even started up their own campaign to keep existing laws in place: http://mnsmart.org/

The SMART campaign is a public education and advocacy effort on Minnesota’s current alcohol laws and regulations. SMART stands for Supporting Minnesota’s Alcohol Regulations and Traditions.

The SMART team is made up of individuals, concerned citizens, and business owners from around the state that believe in smart and balanced alcohol policy, and who do not support deregulation of the industry.

The SMART campaign is supported by the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association, the Minnesota Beer Wholesalers Association, the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association, and the Teamsters Joint Council 32.

I agree that the Teamsters are a small pawn in this game. They are only relevant because some democrats are dependent on their support. If you could remove the teamster/labor issue, I think you would find more universal support among DFLers. Getting this passed through both the House and Senate would take a near majority of DFLers, plus the libertarian-leaning GOPers.

This year may not be the year, but in terms of where we're heading it can't be too far off. Every two years we get younger DFLers who are less beholden to labor, or can at least have the courage to stand up on this common sense issue. On the GOP side, the social conservatives who see this as a family/religious issue are also being replaced by younger, fiscal-conservative libertarian types. What we really need is a Governor and Senate Majority Leader who are supportive and willing to drive the issue forward. Minnesotans have more important issues that the legislature should be focusing on. It's time to settle this issue and move on. The status quo will never be acceptable to a majority of people so the issue is likely to continue coming up every single session.

[gpete]

I still don't understand why no one has proposed a floating holiday every week for liquor stores. That is, you can be open six days, but we won't prescribe which day you close. Then you'd get some variety, and almost all of them would choose to be open on Sunday.

[twincitizen]

http://m.vita.mn/crawl/?&id=296903981&c=y

[xandrex]

What's so funny about this whole issue is that everyone actually knows that Sunday sales are a non-issue, and it's blatant protectionism of self-serving interests. I mean, there is nobody on the pro-status quo side that has yet to make a cogent argument.

[bubzki2]

What's so funny about this whole issue is that everyone actually knows that Sunday sales are a non-issue, and it's blatant protectionism of self-serving interests. I mean, there is nobody on the pro-status quo side that has yet to make a cogent argument.

Sounds like *somebody* needs a day to sober up.

[xandrex]

^Funny enough, I had all of two beers this whole week. I didn't even celebrate St. Paddy's.

[talindsay]

I still don't understand why no one has proposed a floating holiday every week for liquor stores. That is, you can be open six days, but we won't prescribe which day you close. Then you'd get some variety, and almost all of them would choose to be open on Sunday.

Yes, that would be the way to make it not a blue law and sensibly answer all the objections. Nobody has provided a good argument against this approach when I've suggested it, and yet it never gains traction.

What a bunch of puritanical fools.

[twincitizen]

I'm at the House hearing of Rep. Loon's repeal bill.

Rep. Joe Atkins is real a piece of shit
Rep. Raymond Dehn too.

[twinkess]

I'm at the House hearing of Rep. Loon's repeal bill.

Rep. Joe Atkins is real a piece of shit
Rep. Raymond Dehn too.

Dehn is my rep. Is he against Sunday sales?

[twincitizen]

Sure sounded like it. Enough so that he felt the need to dish out some sassy argument at the hearing too, instead of just keeping quiet.

It sounds like he needs to hear from constituents (and better yet, liquor store owners) in his district.

Rep. Dehn represents all of Downtown, Elliot Park, Mill District, North Loop, and Near North.

Surely there are a few liquor stores in that area that would like to be open Sundays.

[twinkess]

Sure sounded like it. Enough so that he felt the need to dish out some sassy argument at the hearing too, instead of just keeping quiet.

It sounds like he needs to hear from constituents (and better yet, liquor store owners) in his district.

Rep. Dehn represents all of Downtown (sans Loring Park), Elliot Park, Mill District, North Loop, and Near North.

Surely there are a few liquor stores in that area that would like to be open Sundays.

Ugh... emailing him now.

[twincitizen]

Here's video from the Commerce Committee meeting last week:


For some reason the poor audio quality makes everyone sound like they have a major lisp. It makes Rep. Loon sound like a cartoon character.

Representative Doofus makes an ass of himself around 50:00

[twinkess]

Here's video from the Commerce Committee meeting last week:


For some reason the poor audio quality makes everyone sound like they have a major lisp. It makes Rep. Loon sound like a cartoon character.

Representative Doofus makes an ass of himself around 50:00

Oh yay. My state reps argument is near moronic...