House Finance Committee Has Approved SB 08-082, Bringing Sunday Liquor Sales in Colorado One Step Closer to Reality

SB 08-082 Has Moved on to the House Appropriations Committee

The Colorado House Finance Committee has voted 9 to 1 in favor sending SB08-082 to the House Appropriations Committee. The final stop before going to the full house for a vote. The bill has already passed in the Senate. The bill, introduced in the Senate of the 2008 Colorado General Assembly on January 16, 2008 would change the language of the current Colorado Revised Statute in order to allow Sunday Liquor sales. Operating a Liquor store on Sunday has been illegal in the State of Colorado since Prohibition was lifted in 1933, while Grocery Stores have been able to sell 3.2 beer all along.

SB 08-082 is meant mostly for small, independently operated liquor stores to be able to compete with Grocery stores which are allowed to sell 3.2 beer on Sundays. According to the bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Cheri Jahn (D- Wheat Ridge) "This (bill) is about a small business being able to choose its own hours and not having government say when they can open and when they have to close." It is believed that Sunday sales would generate significant revenue for the state as much as $6 million in the first year alone according to some estimates.

For years Liquor store owners have fought measures to change Colorado's blue laws. Many changed their position on the Blue Laws this year as a result of a separate measure to allow Supermarkets and Convenience stores to sell full strength beer and wine. Because they felt it would further impede sales in establishments that sold strictly beer, wine and other spirits. That bill was killed in Committee earlier in the 2008 Legislative session.

Opponents feel that this would create a Monopoly in Liquor Sales in Colorado, potentially crippling the smaller mom and pop type convenience stores, costing them tens of thousands of dollars per year in revenue. According to Mark Larson of the Colorado Convenience Store Association "The neighborhood convenience stores, the small business and individual businesses need an opportunity to compete on a level playing field". This bill hinders that opportunity.