S.C. lawmakers again consider expansions of alcohol sales
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Lawmakers gaveled back into session at the South Carolina State House, and two bills they have advanced in their opening week could expand when and how South Carolinians can purchase their favorite adult beverages.
One of the bills, H.4231, would allow Sunday liquor sales at stores in South Carolina, a ban that has been in place since Prohibition in the 1920s.
“We know that beer and wine is sold on Sundays. People coming into our tourism areas often don’t know that they can’t purchase alcohol on Sundays, but yet, they can go to a restaurant, they can go to a bar, they can go to a private club and be served spirits all day long. We just want to level the playing field,” Lynn Stokes-Murray, a lobbyist for the multinational alcoholic beverage company Diageo North America, told of a House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday.
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The bill would allow counties and municipalities to hold a referendum to let voters decide if they want to permit local Sunday liquor sales in stores.
South Carolina is one of four states that does not allow retail liquor sales on Sundays. North Carolina is one of the others, but pending legislation there could soon take it off that list.
The push has been hindered in the past by opposition from mom-and-pop liquor stores, which claim their sales would not increase enough to justify the costs associated with being open a seventh day.
“There are going to be second- and third-order effects of this legislation. I mean, if it moves and it goes through, you’re going to see an impact to small businesses. I don’t know what that looks like, Rep. Leber, but from what my guys are telling me, it’s not going to be pretty,” Brian Flynn, a lobbyist for the ABC Stores of South Carolina, told Rep. Matt Leber, R-Charleston, in response to a question on why these smaller liquor stores oppose the legislation.
The bill would also allow micro-distilleries statewide to sell liquor on Sundays without needing to a referendum.
“What other type of business in this state is allowed to be open on Sunday but is unable to sell product that it produces? I can’t think of one,” Chris Crowe, president of Burnt Church Distillery in Bluffton, said.
Lawmakers are considering another bill that would expand how South Carolinians can purchase their favorite drinks by legalizing alcohol deliveries and curbside sales.
“With where we are right now in the modern-day economy, consumers want delivery,” DoorDash representative Chad Horrell said.
During part of the pandemic, South Carolinians could purchase alcohol through curbside pickup at restaurants and stores under an executive order issued by the governor.
But once that order expired, so too did that option.
The South Carolina Retail Association is one of the primary advocates for the bill, which includes guardrails designed to prevent alcohol from getting in minors’ possession.
“Particularly, we the provision that maintains age-verification requirements for anybody receiving an order that does include alcohol and minimums and training requirements in place for those who would deliver it,” South Carolina Retail Association Executive Director Krista Hinson said.
A House of Representatives subcommittee advanced both these bills earlier this week, and they now sit in the House Judiciary Committee.
Senators have also advanced their own bipartisan bill to allow alcohol deliveries and curbside sales.
It awaits a debate in the Senate, where it faces some Republican opposition.
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