A Bill to repeal America’s strictest ban on Election Day alcohol sales was approved yesterday by a key Kentucky Senate committee and now heads to the floor of the Senate for consideration, according to a press release from the Distilled Spirits Council.
Senate Bill 13, sponsored by Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, would allow a retailer to sell alcohol during the hours the polls are open on a primary, or regular, local option, or special election day across Kentucky. The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee.
“The Election Day sales ban is a very outdated relic of the Prohibition era when saloons sometimes served as polling stations,” said DISCUS Vice President Jay Hibbard, whose organization has aggressively supported rolling back Blue Laws in states across the country. “Blue laws don’t make sense in today’s economy and we applaud the Licensing and Occupation Committee for taking this positive step for Kentucky small businesses and consumers. Repealing the Election Day sales ban will increase revenues—benefitting the state, counties and cities.”
Hibbard pointed out that five states have repealed Election Day alcohol sales bans since 2008, including: West Virginia (2011), Indiana (2010), Utah (2009), Idaho (2008) and Delaware (2008).
Kentucky and South Carolina remain the only two states in the entire country which still cling to statewide Election Day sales bans of alcohol at restaurants, bars and package stores.