Tag Archives: Sunday Liquor Sales

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.
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Prohibition – Where are we now?

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January 17th, 1920, the 18th Amendment, commonly known as prohibition, went into effect. The Amendment effectively outlawed the manufacture, sale, transportation, or importation of intoxicating liquors across the nation. The change put brewers, distributors, and retailers out of business, increased the scope and power organized crime, and turned hard working Americans into scofflaws.

When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.
-John D. Rockefeller, Jr. June, 1932

Prohibition, or The Failed Experiment as it came to be known, was eventually overturned 13 years later with the passing of the 21st Amendment. The 21st amendment nullified Prohibition and bestowed powers of liquor regulation to individual states.

With the control of intoxicating liquors many states embraced popular public sentiments, while other states imposed teetotaling regulations that lasted for decades. Mississippi was dry until 1966. Minnesota didn’t allow restaurants to serve alcohol on Sunday until 1967. Kansas didn’t allow alcohol until 1948, and they didn’t legalize public bars until 1987.

Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcoholSome states and municipalities inserted themselves into the liquor commerce in an effort to encourage moderation and likely maximize revenue. Pennsylvania created the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) to “discourage the purchase of alcoholic beverages by making it as inconvenient and expensive as possible.” The PLCB controls licensing, distribution, storage, sale, and virtually every aspect of commerce related to wine, spirits, and beer in the keystone state. Minnesota didn’t go as far as PA, but the land of 10,000 lakes does have 266 municipal liquor operations. The most recent data available shows some Minnesota Muni stores like Flensburg and Rushford have operated at a loss of over 100k/yr.

So, where we now? Pennsylvania is looking at privatizing their liquor operations. Alabama just became the last state to legalize homebrewing. Kansas only has 13 counties that remain dry. Here in Minnesota consumer still can’t buy liquor, wine, or beer in a store on Sunday.

beer in not a crimeIt has been ninety-four years since prohibition went into effect and Minnesotans are still being restricted by a failed experiment from a bygone era. Every state surrounding Minnesota has Sunday liquor sales. The restriction puts Minnesota business owners at a competitive disadvantage. Possibly the worst aspect of Minnesota’s off-sale Sunday liquor ban is the fact that it punishes responsible consumers for absolutely no sensible reason. The fact that liquor sales are allowed 6 days a week makes it clear that buying liquor is ok. The fact that you can buy liquor in a bar on Sundays makes it clear that the state says it is ok to buy liquor on Sunday. So, if liquor is ok any day of the week, why do we continue the prohibition of Sunday liquor store sales in Minnesota?

The Minnesota Beer Activists have been invited to a Town Hall Forum being hosted by The Republican Liberty Caucus of Minnesota to address Sunday liquor sales in Minnesota. The Fightin’ Words Podcast, by Walter Hudson, was kind enough to underwrite the cost of our table. We are looking forward to an honest and open discussion about what possible changes to the existing law could mean for Minnesota. The panel will consist of several interested parties including Minnesota House Representative Steve Drazowski (R- Mazeppa). Representative Drazkowski has consistently pushed for the repeal of Sunday liquor prohibition. The forum is open to anyone, and we would love to have consumers come participate. The RLCMN is asking for a donation of $5 at the door. There will be a limited menu and bar available.

Details:
Sunday Liquor Sales Town Hall
Mermaid
2200 Hwy 10, Mounds View, Minnesota 55112
6:30-7p Social
7-8p Town Hall Forum
8-? Shenanigans
Limited menu and bar available.

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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

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.”

Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Minnesota Gubernatorial Candidate Jeff Johnson Supports Sunday Alcohol Sales

Jeff Johnson for GovernorMinnesota Gubernatorial Candidate Jeff Johnson Supports Sunday Alcohol Sales.

 

We reached out to gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson last week via twitter to ask him about his stance on Sunday alcohol sales and brewpub distribution. His reply was a refreshing affirmative on Sunday sales, and a request to know more about brewpub distribution.

Things are busy around here, so we haven’t had a chance to talk to Jeff about brewpub distribution yet. But, this is surely a good sign that we might have some leaders thinking about the wishes of the Minnesota consumers, rather than special interest lobbyists.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson is a former Minnesota House Assistant Majority Leader. He currently sits on the board of Hennepin County, and represent the 7th district.

You can find out more about Jeff and his gubernatorial campaign at http://johnsonforgovernor.org/.

*This is not an official endorsement*

Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Minneapolis Craft Beer Pioneer Supports Sunday Liquor Sales

To whom it may concern,

My name is Al McCarty, and I have been an avid follower of the craft beer scene nationwide for over 20 years, and a bar industry professional for nearly twenty years. I have been the bar manager of the Blue Nile restaurant in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis for almost fifteen of those years, and in that role I have been a pioneer in promoting craft beer at this establishment, long before the current boom of local breweries and beer bars began.

In both of these aspects of my life, I have seen that the lack of Sunday sales of off-premise liquor and beer sales only serves to make Minnesota appear to be a backwards community. Currently, Minnesota counts among only a dozen states in the union that prohibit Sunday liquor sales. We feel proud to consider ourselves culturally, socially and politically progressive, yet we are in the same company as states such as Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Utah, Texas, and Montana. Many of these communities are our opposites when compared to politics, cultural life, and literacy. Minneapolis was recently named the #3 most literate city in the nation, behind Washington, D.C., and Seattle, Washington. And yet a literate, educated, sophisticated beer drinker in Minneapolis cannot visit a store and buy a well-crafted, sophisticated ale on a Sunday.

The local beer scene has exploded in recent years, with breweries and brewpubs popping up everywhere and striving, positively affecting the economy and the community, Yet, by law, we are still far behind. I was once visited at the Blue Nile by a man from Kansas who drove hundreds of miles for a taste of Surly Darkness Russian Imperial Stout. And yet, he reminded me, he could not walk into a store and buy a bottle in Minnesota on a Sunday, although in Kansas, he could. “What’s wrong with Kansas?” some ask? Not this.

When I point out to some people that we can’t do what some can in Kansas, I hear an astonishingly absurd reply. “Do we want to be like them?” In this case, yes, we do. We want to be like them, because we look backwards, primitive and un-progressive in comparison. In North Dakota, in Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Idaho, Nebraska, and all across the United States of America, sophisticated, educated consumers have the liberty to walk into a store on a Sunday and purchase a bottle, a 6-pack or a growler for their own private consumption at home, but in educated, sophisticated, progressive Minnesota, we are denied that liberty.

We are ahead of Kansas in beer, but in this one small matter whose opposition is antiquated and absurd. Blue laws have not place in the 21st Century. This is a diverse, cosmopolitan, worldly community of many cultures, who should no longer be constrained to the rule of a conservative religious culture. The arguments against allowing Sunday sales are flimsy and baseless. “You can always plan ahead and buy on Saturday,” I hear. That’s not logic and it’s not a sound argument. Why should we have to force this upon ourselves, as consumers? Some of us do not have the luxury in our work schedule to visit a liquor store to provide for our Sunday drinking plans by checking in on Saturday. These arbitrary limitations on our liberties as consumers do not hold water. Arguments against Sunday liquor sales by those in the packaged beverage world seem to only be based on an effort to do have to go to work on a Sunday, or to not have to compete with anyone else who is willing to do so. There is simply no other industry or craft who is limited by these laws, outside of car salesmen, and none of them have any problem with opening or not opening on a Sunday.

Al McCarty, craft beer legend and bar manager.
Al McCarty, craft beer advocate and bar manager.

So, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed legislators, I would hope you would consider how current laws affect the economy, as well as our communities standing among or against others in light of these same laws. Do we want to stand in the same circle as Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, or Texas, despite how we appear in so many other regards, or do we want to allow for this most simple thing, the freedom to enter a store on a Sunday and buy a bottle of beer or wine for home consumption?

Yours, sincerely,
Al McCarty,
Minneapolis,
Minnesota