Topeka ? Proponents of a bill to allow Sunday alcohol sales urged senators Tuesday to make the state’s Liquor Control Act uniform and regain control of the liquor industry.

Fourteen cities, including Lawrence, and one county, relying largely on a March 2003 court ruling, now permit Sunday sales despite a prohibition in the state law.

The issue arose because some provisions of the Liquor Control Act apply only to large cities, others to small cities. When a state law lacks uniformity, the Kansas Constitution allows communities to exercise “home rule” power over the matter the statute purports to control, Wyandotte County Judge John J. Bukaty Jr. ruled last year.

The Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments last month on the state’s appeal of Bukaty’s decision and could rule on the case as early as Friday.

Atty. Gen. Phill Kline contends that if the Wyandotte County ruling stands and legislators do not act, local governments could start exempting themselves from other parts of the Liquor Control Act, such as the section setting the legal drinking age at 21.

The bill before the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee would make the act uniform — for example, by eliminating language that makes it harder in a small city than a large one to force elections on allowing retail liquor sales.

Proponents of Sunday sales were invited to testify Tuesday, with opponents to go before the committee today.

Neal Whitaker, executive director of the Kansas Beer Wholesalers Assn., said residents rather than the state should decide if liquor stores in their communities can sell alcohol on Sundays.

“The primary reason for prohibiting package sales on Sundays is an ancient adherence to a belief that activity — including purchasing, working and consuming — should be curtailed on the Christian Sabbath,” Whitaker said.

“For an issue that is so closely tied to the Christian faith, we believe local communities should make that decision, rather than the Kansas Legislature,” he said.

One committee member, Sen. Jim Barnett, said some senators believed Sunday sales and the liquor law’s uniformity should be treated in separate bills.

“I cannot support Sunday sales, but I do support a uniform liquor law,” Barnett, R-Emporia, said in an interview. “I think they should be separate issues.”

But he added: “I think Sunday sales has a lot of power behind it.”