Senate Approves Sunday Alcohol Sales By 28 to 6; Bill Goes To Malloy

The state Senate voted Tuesday to end the long-running controversy by approving Sunday alcohol sales in supermarkets and package stores – leaving Indiana as the only state with an across-the-board ban on Sunday sales.

After a surprisingly short debate that lasted slightly more than one hour, the Senate voted 28 to 6 with all six negative votes coming from Republicans. Two Democratic senators were absent from the vote.

The measure now goes to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who will sign the bill into law because he was the original proponent of Sunday sales.

Besides Sundays, citizens could now buy liquor on three key holidays – Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day – marking a sharp change in Connecticut’s liquor-buying culture.

“This bill is a bold step forward toward increasing free-market activities for alcohol sales in Connecticut,” said Sen. John Kissel, a Republican from the border town of Enfield. “Nobody thought this was going to be addressed this year in Connecticut.”

Sen. Toni Boucher, a Wilton Republican who has about 30 package stores in her seven-town district in Fairfield County, said the issue had become so controversial in recent years that some lawmakers believed that Sunday sales would never happen. But the issue changed dramatically this year when Malloy stepped forward to push for the issue.

“I had become convinced that I should never support a Sunday sales bill until this year,” said Boucher, noting that the local package stores in her district now favor the change. ”My usual value is …. the free-market should determine.”

But some Senate Republicans rejected the concept, saying that consumers cross the border into other states for lower prices – not because of Sunday sales. Sen. Len Fasano, the deputy Republican leader, voted against the bill for a number of reasons.

“I don’t believe it’s fair to say this bill was fairly negotiated,” Fasano said. “In this case, the stores had to take what they got, which is Sunday sales, to get rid of the horrible stuff. That’s not a compromise. … I’m going to vote no because I think it’s going to hurt small businesses. … With all due respect, it’s not going to be a revenue driver to any significant degree.”

In the old days, Fasano said, families spent more time with each other when stores were closed on Sundays.

“We actually communicated. We didn’t text,” Fasano said on the Senate floor. ”That whole quaint atmosphere of our lives has disappeared. … I guess I’m old-fashioned.”

Sen. Andrew Roraback, a Republican who represents 15 small towns in semi-rural Litchfield County, also opposed the bill. 

“We have gotten along for a long time without being able to purchase a bottle of liquor on Sundays,” said Roraback, adding that the package store is often the main gathering place in the small towns in his district.

Several senators said they had mixed emotions, saying that they know that many small mom-and-pop package stores will now be open seven days a week and will require more work by owners who are already operating on a small profit margin.

Legislative analysts are estimating that the bill would generate $5.2 million of additional tax revenue that state Sen. Paul Doyle said he believes is ”pretty conservative.”

Doyle noted that Malloy had offered a sweeping deregulation of the liquor industry, but the legislators were “just not exactly confident of what the ultimate outcome would be.” As such, they sharply cut back most of Malloy’s proposals and decided to create a 15-member, bipartisan taskforce to study the deregulation of pricing in the industry. The taskforce will look at the prices, taxes, volume discounts, and minimum pricing in all surrounding states, and their report will be due by New Year’s Day in order to be ready for the 2013 legislative session.

Malloy, for example, had proposed eliminating all minimum pricing, which opponents said would have driven hundreds of package stores out of business because the small, low-margin, mom-and-pop stores would be dominated by the larger, wealthier, well-stocked, big box stores.

 Still, Sunday sales from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. will represent a huge change in the land of steady habits.

“This bill is one of the most radical reforms of our liquor statutes since the Great Depression,” Doyle said.

Under the bill, each store can sell one item per month under a limited price-discount in which they can sell an item at as much as 10 percent below cost.

“Once I sign this bill, Indiana will be the only state in the nation to ban Sunday sales.  It’s a measure that’s long past due and a good first step to making our state’s package stores more consumer friendly,” Malloy said after the vote.

“Our current laws have cost Connecticut businesses millions of dollars as consumers have flocked over our borders in search of more convenient hours and lower prices.  Like many other initiatives I’ve put forward since taking office, this bill has a simple focus: making Connecticut competitive once again.”

Malloy added that he continues ”to believe there’s more we can do to lower the cost to consumers in our state.  I look forward to the study proposed by the legislature.  It’s a good first step and one that I hope lays the foundation for future action.  This much is clear – the more we can lower prices for consumers, the more competitive our businesses will be.”

Kissel credited Malloy with pushing the ball forward and getting the conversation going.

Besides alcohol sales, the bill calls for expanding the amount of snack foods that can be sold in the package stores. The stores will now be permitted to sell olives, cheese, and crackers.

Carroll Hughes, the chief lobbyist for the package stores for the past 36 years, said that the biggest moneymakers in the liquor industry – the manufacturers and distributors – went unscathed by the bill this year.

“Next year is a different story. Our upstream players and our other partners in the liquor business, including government, should plan on what they’re going to contribute. This year was totally on package stores. We basically have contributed 8 weeks – 55 days.’’

The Sunday sales debate Tuesday was a surprise as the state Senate suspended the rules to take up an item that had not been officially ready for debate. In the parlance of the Senate, it was “single-starred” when it should have been double-starred – meaning the debate should not start until Wednesday if there was no suspension of the rules.

Sen. Kevin Witkos, a Canton Republican, said the crowd at the public hearing on Sunday sleas made the day “the busiest I have ever seen.”

“I think it’s going to be a boom to the economy,” Witkos said.

 ”Never have I seen every floor filled up,” Kissel said of the Legislative Office Building on the day of the Sunday sales hearing.

“I’ve got to give Carroll Hughes and the package stores association credit,” Kissel said. “They deserve an awful lot of credit for offering that olive branch to us.”

Kissel mentioned a package store owner that he said must be doing well because he is a member of the Westerly, Rhode Island yacht club.

Hughes has noted repeatedly that the Sunday sales prohibition was not a blue law. The blue laws were outlawed more than 30 years ago by the Connecticut Supreme Court. As such, the Sunday sales prohibition was an alcohol law, not a blue law.

The debate on House Bill 5021 started at 4:20 p.m. Tuesday, and the vote was shortly after 5:30 p.m.

In the final tally of 28 to 6, two Democratic senators – Edith Prague of Columbia and Eileen Daily of Westbrook – were absent from the vote.

Sen. Carlo Leone, a Stamford Democrat, said, “I want to commend kudos to everyone involved in the bill.”

Sen. Robert Duff, a Norwalk Democrat, said the Sunday sales issue has been “a tricky thing to navigate” in the state legislature.

“Going forward, consumers will be grateful because they will have a choice to purchase beer on Sundays,” Duff said.

Sen. Steve Cassano said he went to all 26 package stores in his district, and all 26 were opposed to Sunday sales. Those stores usually get 55 days off per year, and now those days – including three holidays – will be working days. 

“I never had a problem. I stocked up on Saturday,” Cassano said of his purchases. “They’ve mortgaged their homes to open these stores.”

Sen. Len Suzio, a Meriden Republican who won the seat previously held by Democrat Thomas Gaffey, said that banking, health care, and liquor are all highly regulated industries.

“There’s a reason to have a day of rest. We’re all human, and we all need a day of rest,” said Suzio, who voted no. “The bill is an improvement over what it was originally.”

Sen. Jason Welch, a Bristol Republican, said he always wondered why he could drive to a bar on Sunday but he could not purchase a bottle of liquor at a package store on that same Sunday and drink it at home.

Sen. L. Scott Frantz, a Greenwich Republican, said that the watered-down bill is far better than Malloy’s original bill.

“This bill before us is a huge improvement over … the original bill,” Frantz said. “I tend to take the perspective of the small business owner. … I still have a place in my heart and my mind for those who suffer.”

The six Republican “no” votes were Frantz, Suzio, Fasano, Roraback, Joseph Markley, and Michael McLachlan.

Senate Republican leader John McKinney of Fairfield favored the bill, despite pointing out problems. The small, independent pharmacies, bookstores, and coffee shops have largely gone out of business and have been replaced by huge chains. The owners often work more than 60 hours a week, but their costs could go up by as much as 15 percent because they will be open on a seventh day, he said.

“The governor’s bill did nothing to erase the monopoly that the beer distributors have,” McKinney said. ”There’s a lot of inconsistencies. … We’re here telling them we know how to run their business better than they do.”