IN: Tighter alcohol restrictions shot down
By Niki Kelly
February 14, 2019
INDIANAPOLIS – New restrictions for retailers selling carryout alcohol were stripped from a wide-ranging alcohol bill Wednesday.
The House Public Policy Committee then voted 12-1 to send House Bill 1518 to the House floor.
The most controversial part of the bill would have required grocery, drug and convenience stores to segregate alcohol to one area of the store. That means end-cap specials on wine or liquor at the checkouts would not be allowed.
Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, is the author of the bill and defended the language. He also chairs the committee.
“I think we have lost control,” he said, noting alcohol is spread around stores in easy view of minors.
But Rep. Sean Eberhart, R-Shelbyville, offered an amendment to remove the language – essentially leaving the law as it is now.
“It’s a free-market amendment,” Eberhart said. “I haven’t heard of any real big issues on the way the practice is happening now.”
Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Berne, said the issue of alcohol being placed all around a store with large Captain Morgan cutouts or spirits in the diaper section comes up every year.
“We need to have a commonsense approach,” he said and voted against the amendment.
It narrowly passed 7-6 and the language was removed from the bill.
Smaltz also offered an amendment that removed another key restriction that would have required clerks ringing up alcohol in drug, grocery and convenience stores be 21. This is the law for liquor stores, and Smaltz initially wanted to level the playing field.
Other parts of the bill will allow patrons to carry in wine to a restaurant, and allow the restaurant to charge people to do so. It also creates a special salon permit allowing beauty salons to serve complimentary alcohol while providing services like hair or nail treatments.
Other language limits the holding of alcohol permits in escrow and adjusts quota permit rules for fast-growing cities and towns.
The bill now moves to the House.