Colorado: Colorado House panel kills bill to expand alcohol sales at Walmart, liquor stores

House Bill 1370 would have allowed liquor stores and Walmart to expand alcohol sales to more locations.

Source: The Denver Post

By BRIAN EASON

May 5, 2017

After a raucous debut, last call came early for a bill expanding alcohol sales in Colorado.

With no discussion Friday morning, the House Appropriations Committee rejected the controversial measure 5-8, declining to send it on to the full House floor for a vote.

House Bill 1370 would have allowed liquor stores to expand to up to nine locations under 10 years. Walmart also would have been allowed to expand alcohol sales to up to 20 locations over 20 years, putting them on a level playing field with grocery stores under a broad overhaul passed last year.

Alcohol-related bills are always among the most contentious and heavily lobbied at the Colorado statehouse. And lawmakers said this year’s last-minute fight was especially bitter, dividing the state’s liquor store industry between large outfits that may want to expand and owners of smaller shops who fear that allowing further growth would drive Colorado’s mom-and-pop stores out of business and consolidate the state’s alcohol licenses into the hands of a few mega-chains.

Proponents of the measure said further tweaks were needed to the state’s alcohol laws to fix a legal oversight that barred Walmart and possibly Target from expanding. They also argued that it wasn’t fair that grocery stores could expand sales to 20 locations by 2037, while liquor stores are capped at four over 10 years.