Category Archives: Legislative Events

Legislative events and news relevant to Minnesota liquor, wine, and beer consumers

Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Sunday liquor sales, a call to action

MN Beer Activists are putting out a call to action for beer lovers across the state of Minnesota to help finally legalize the sale of liquor, wine, and beer on Sundays.

38 states allow Sunday liquor sales, including every state that surrounds Minnesota. It is time to give Minnesota consumers and retailers the choice. Let’s stop sending our hard earned money over the borders. Politicians can stop pretending they are worried about the impact on “Mom & Pop liquor stores.” The fact is there plenty of small independent stores in states where Sunday liquor sales are legal. Just follow one of the hundreds of MN license plates over to Superior, or Hudson, and take a look. Mom & Pop are going to be just fine.

“Commerce is well enough established as seven days and nights a week now, ” Dayton said. “For us to say it doesn’t apply to this or doesn’t apply to that really doesn’t make much sense. There are an increasing number of Minnesotans for which Sunday isn’t a religious holiday.”

Opponents and prohibitionists will stand by old arguments, claiming that Sundays won’t add any more sales, or that stores will be forced to open. In reality, Sunday is the second busiest shopping day of the week, and any store that doesn’t want to open won’t have to. Plenty of banks and barbers make these choices every week without a government mandate. When Colorado passed Sunday beer sales the increased revenue was credited with bringing liquor stores through tough economic conditions. How’s that for 6 days of sales across 7 days?


For probably the first time ever Sunday liquor sales has a real chance of passing this year. Governor Dayton has said he will sign a Sunday sales bill, and House leaders Thissen & Daudt have said 2014 could be the year. However, with all the bipartisan support the Sunday sales bill still faces opposition from leadership. The Sunday liquor bill will need to be heard and passed in the House and Senate Commerce Committees. Committee Chairs Representative Joe Atkins (D) and Senator Jim Metzen (D) are may not give the bill fair committee hearings without receiving a large amount of public pressure. This is how you can help.

Visit SundaySalesMN.Org 30 seconds and 1-click is all it takes. Then, share it with your friends and social media using the hashtag #SundaySalesMN


The most effective thing you can do is call!
Find your own legislators here, but be sure to call and email these leaders below.

Senate Majority Leader Thomas M. Bakk (03, DFL) 651-296-8881
Email: Use Mail Form

Senate Minority Leader David W. Hann (48, R) 651-296-1749
Email: Use Mail Form

Senate Commerce Chair James P. Metzen (52, DFL) 651-296-4370
Email: sen.jim.metzen@senate.mn

Speaker of the House Paul Thissen (DFL, 61B) 651-296-5375
Email: rep.paul.thissen@house.mn

House Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL, 64A) 651-296-8799
Email: rep.erin.murphy@house.mn

House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R, 31A) 651-296-5364
Email: rep.kurt.daudt@house.mn

House Deputy Minority Leader Jenifer Loon (R, 48B) 651-296-7449
Email: rep.jenifer.loon@house.mn

House Commerce Chair Joe Atkins (D, 52B) 651-296-4192
Email: Use Mail Form

sunday liquor sales minnesota #sundaysalesmn

Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Caucusing for Sunday Liquor sales

Time to get active!

Minnesota Beer Activists are urging supporters of ending the prohibition on Sunday liquor sales to go out to the caucuses Tuesday evening and get involved. Minnesota’s precinct caucuses will be held
Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.
mn caucus finder
Precinct caucuses are meetings organized by Minnesota’s political parties, typically on the first Tuesday in February of a statewide election year. Minnesota’s major political parties must hold Caucuses at least every statewide election year. Other political parties may also choose to hold caucuses. It is the first step for the party to select candidates and choose the party’s goals and values (called the party platform).

Below are sample resolutions you can take with you to your caucus.
DFL Sunday liquor sales resolution – Right-click to Download
GOP Sunday liquor sales resolution – Right-click to Download

mn beer caucus

Support your candidates

It is not only important to introduce resolutions, it is important to support the legislative candidates that support listening to voters and repealing the Sunday liquor sales ban.

Candidates that we know support Sunday liquor sales –

Senate
Carlson
Dibble
Pappas
Reinert

House
Anderson, M.
Anderson, S.
Drazkowski
Falk
FitzSimmons
Freiberg
Hausman
Hertaus
Hilstrom
Hornstein
Kahn
Kieffer
Lesch
Liebling
Lien
Loeffler
Loon
Myhra
Norton
Paymar
Peppin
Pugh
Simonson
Woodard

Who can attend a caucus?

  • Precinct caucuses are open to the public. But in order to vote, offer resolutions, or become a delegate, you must:
  • Be eligible to vote in the fall election.
  • Live in the precinct.
  • Be in general agreement with the principles of the political party (Minnesota does not have an party registration process).

What happens at a caucus?

  1. Elect precinct officers who work to organize political activities in the precinct. This could include maintaining contact lists, convening political meetings and helping with campaign efforts.
  2. Discuss issues and ideas for the party to support. People may bring ideas, called resolutions, to be voted on. People usually bring a typed or handwritten copy of their resolution.
  3. Vote for the person you want the party to support for governor or president. This is called the straw poll, which is an informal poll to learn how much support each candidate has. Candidates are officially chosen at future meetings, called conventions.
  4. Elect delegates to represent your precinct at upcoming political conventions that are held during an election year. The first are the political party’s county or district conventions. At these conventions, delegates endorse candidates to represent the county or district, and then choose a smaller number of delegates for the party’s congressional and state conventions. These delegates will endorse candidates to represent the congressional district or statewide offices such as governor or U.S. Senator.
Legislative Events, Newsfeed

The Small BREW Act (HR 494) with Jon Messier from Lucid Brewing

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We recently had chance to talk with Jon Messier from Lucid Brewing about The Small BREW Act (HR 494). The Small Brew Act is a federal bill that would lower the small brewer excise tax on the first 60,000 barrels by 50 percent (from $7.00 to $3.50/barrel) and institute a new rate $16.00 per barrel on beer production above 60,000 barrels up to 2 million barrels. The bill has bipartisan support, and was coauthored by House Representative Erik Paulsen (R-MN).

For more information on the The Small BREW Act (HR 494) visit the Brewer’s Association. More about Representative Paulson’s visit to Lucid Brewing can be found here. To let your legislators know you support the Small BREW Act enter your address HERE and contact your U.S. representatives. This is a national bill, so local legislators won’t want to hear about it.

Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Governor Mark Dayton says he Would Sign a Bill Repealing the Ban on Sunday Liquor Sales in Minnesota

In a story released by the Associated Press, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, said he would sign a bill lifting the ban on Sunday liquor sales.

The Governor’s neutral stance is surely good news in the common sense battle for Sunday sales. However, the Governor saying he will sign a bill is a long way from saying he supports it. You would think he would be all for Sunday sales. The Governor is pushing for a new kind of legislative session, an “Unsession.” The unsession concept is to undo some of the things that no longer make sense for Minnesota. A widely supported issue like selling wine, liquor, or beer in Sunday should be at the very top of the unsession list.

The Unsession is a first-of-its-kind effort to make government better, faster, simpler and more efficient for people. We want to improve service, shorten wait times, eliminate old and outdated rules, and undo anything else that makes government nearly impossible for people to understand.

A Sunday liquor sales bill will need to pass votes the House Commerce Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee and be approved on the floor before it can go to the Governor for his signature. Previous Sunday sales bills have always been stalled out in the past at the committee level.

There is a lot of influence from powerful lobbying groups to keep the status quo. And, many in the liquor industry make donations to election campaigns and PAC’s, that kind of money probably gets you some special attention liquor issues come up. It should come as no surprise that some of those donations come from those in the Wisconsin and North Dakota liquor industry. After all, Minnesota’s ban on Sunday liquor sales works to their advantage.

Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Minneapolis Election Day: November 5, 2013

Minneapolis election day is November 5, 2013. Minneapolis residents will have some tough choices to make. We don’t pretend that the stance a candidate takes on modernizing Minnesota liquor law should a decide if they get your vote, but it can give you some insight to their political philosophy and how they might handle future issues.

The City of Lakes will be saying goodbye to Mayor R.T. Rybak and looking for a new mayor. During his time in office Mayor Rybak, ushered in several changes that have made many Minneapolis beer drinkers grateful.

One key change came when Rybak approved an initiative by Minneapolis City Council Member Gary Schiff to lift the prohibition on breweries within 300 feet of churches. This ordinance change alone made it possible for Dangerous Man Brewing Co. to open in NE Minneapolis, while opening up the city for more commerce.

Rybak also pushed for a change to state level beer law. He successfully pushed for breweries to have the ability to sell their own pints of beer on site in taprooms. The success of modernized liquor code has led to taprooms and breweries being built all over Minneapolis, and the rest of the state, including a massive forthcoming “destination brewery” from Surly Brewing Co.

So, as Minneapolis looks to a elect its next leader, keep in mind that while being pro beer isn’t everything, Mayor Rybak’s pro-beer stance has lead to a lot of entrepreneurship and brewing industry growth in Minneapolis. As the beer culture continues to grow in Minnesota, it is important to remember that modernizing liquor regulations play a big part in fostering that expansion.

The leading Minneapolis mayoral candidates don’t often get asked about beer and liquor laws, but it comes up from time to time in public forums. Here is a list of what we have been able to track down. If you have updated information, or find something we didn’t, please comment below and will we update this piece.

Minnesota Mayoral Candidates on Liquor / Beer
Allowing Sunday Sales Allowing Brewpub Distribution Allowing Distillery Taprooms Eliminating 60/40 Food/Alcohol Sales
Betsy Hodges Undecided Undecided Supports Supports
Mark Andrew Against Undecided Supports Supports
Don Samuels Supports Undecided Supports Supports
Cam Winton Supports Supports Supports Supports
Stephanie Woodruff Supports Supports Supports Supports
Jackie Cherryhomes Against Undecided Supports Supports

It is worth noting that according to Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Mark Andrew tried to get a $1,000 donation from the Minnesota Beer Wholesalers Association PAC, but walked away with $500, the legal limit on contributions. Minnesota Beer Wholesalers Association has opposed recent beer reforms, including retail sales at brewpubs and Sunday sales.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/92858129″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

In addition to mayoral candidates, there is also a proposal to amend the Minneapolis city charter liquor-licensing provisions on the ballot. The proposed amendment would essentially “clean up” the language in the Minneapolis City Charter (i.e., the city constitution). The charter was written long ago, it uses language like “doth” instead of “do” and even references parts of the city government that no longer exist. The new language wouldn’t change any rules or regulations, it would make the existing regulations easier to for residents to understand.

2) “Shall the Minneapolis City Charter provisions relating to the sale of liquor and wine be amended by reorganizing and rewriting in plain modern language?”
Yes __________
No ___________

Existing Charter
Plain Language Charter and cover correspondence to City Council
Side-by-Side Comparisons
FAQs

As with any election, make sure you are registered, you know your polling location, and you’ve educated yourself on issues and candidates.

Special thanks to Jeremy Zoss and The Growler for doing a lot of leg work on this issue.

Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Connecticut and Sunday Liquor Sales: One Year Later

Last year, Connecticut passed a law repealing the prohibition of off-sale liquor retail on Sundays. The measure to modernize the Connecticut liquor code was endorsed by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy (DFL) with members of the DFL and GOP in both the House and Senate voted to make the change. The measure was signed into law on May, 17th, 2012, after decades of debate.

“For years, Connecticut residents had to go to neighboring states where merchants selling alcoholic beverages were wide open for business. Connecticut lost business, lost sales and lost taxes.”
–Connecticut Commissioner of Revenue Services Kevin B. Sullivan

A little over one year has passed since the change. How has the legalization of Sunday liquor sales impacted the state and its consumers? Fears that six days of sales would be spread over seven days have been found to be completely unfounded. Liquor sales during the last year have increased, not decreased. According to the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services the state experienced an sizable increase in alcoholic beverage receipts, crediting the change in Sunday liquor sales for the increase. The volume of alcoholic products sold by Connecticut retailers increased by nearly 3%.

Said Commissioner Sullivan, “Not every retailer selling beer and other alcoholic beverages see increased sales. Overall, however, the results are positive and especially for those who stretched to be more competitive.”