Kansas Senate committee endorses liquor sales bill
Topeka ? Kansas would phase in the sale of full-strength beer, wine and liquor in grocery and convenience stores by 2017 under a bill endorsed Tuesday by a state Senate committee.
The Federal and State Affairs Committee rewrote the legislation before approving it, to slow down what would be historic changes in liquor laws that have set Kansas apart from many other states. The committee’s voice vote sent the measure to the Senate for debate, which could occur as early as Friday.
Senators tried to balance the long-standing desire of grocery and convenience store owners to expand what they can sell, starting next year, against liquor store owners’ worries that changing the law will allow large retail chains to drive them out of business. Backers of expanded sales still saw the committee’s action as a significant victory, while liquor store owners still appeared upset.
State law allows grocery and convenience stores to sell “cereal malt beverage,” also known as “weak” or “low-point” beer. Kansas is one of only five states to make such a distinction about beer based on the alcohol content of the brew, and it’s often seen as a reflection of the dry heritage in a state well-known for Carrie Nation’s saloon smashing.
Supporters argue a change in liquor laws will create new jobs and generate revenues for the state, as well as help struggling rural grocery stores and stores in some border counties.
“I’m excited that it’s going to be on the Senate floor and everybody’s going to get into the debate,” said Brenda Elsworth, operations director for Pete’s Convenience Stores, which operates 24 stores in southeast Kansas.
Liquor store owners argue the main beneficiaries of the change will be big, out-of-state retail chains. Kansas law now limits liquor licenses to people who’ve lived in the state for at least four years, with an individual allowed to own a single store. Those restrictions would be removed under the bill.
“It takes everything that we do right now, currently, keeping our businesses in Kansas, and gives it to corporations,” said Steve Nelson, who owns Brown Bag Liquor in Olathe. “Money’s going to go out of the state.”
Under the bill, liquor stores would continue to hold special licenses allowing them to sell liquor, along with full-strength beer and wine. The number of such licenses, now 762, couldn’t increase statewide from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2016.
But if a liquor store gave up its license, a grocery or convenience store could try to obtain it from the state, and a liquor store owner could agree to sell a license. Starting in 2017, there’d be no restrictions on the number of liquor licenses the state could issue, opening liquor stores to competition from grocery and convenience stores.
In theory, the delay gives liquor store owners time to negotiate a deal with a grocery or convenience store owner or retail chain if they don’t think they’ll be able to compete. But many liquor store owners expect retail chains to simply wait out the transition period and then move into the business.
As originally drafted, the bill would have permitted grocery and convenience stores to start selling full-strength beer and wine Jan. 1. It would have allowed them to pick up the right to sell liquor if a liquor store closed or sold its liquor license, then removed restrictions on the number of liquor licenses in 2015.
“The committee chose to make it more slow-moving in its effect,” said Chairman Pete Brungardt, a Salina Republican. “I think the committee was treading carefully on changing existing circumstances in the business world.”
Some committee members still think the measure goes too far.
“The people who currently own liquor stores in the state of Kansas, I think it’s likely to bankrupt them, put them out of business,” said Sen. Steve Abrams, an Arkansas City Republican.
But supporters argued the changes ultimately will bring greater competition and benefit consumers.
“This bill from the beginning has been about consumer choice and competition, and I think any time that we’re having a healthy debate and dialogue, it moves that forward,” Elsworth said.