• WBST 92.1 FMMuncie
  • WBSB 89.5 FMAnderson
  • WBSW 90.9 FMMarion
  • WBSH 91.1 FMHagerstown / New Castle
Indiana Public Radio, a listener-supported service of Ball State University
Listen Live Online. Tap to open audio stream.

Senate Committee OKs Sunday Alcohol Sales, House Committee Hears Testimony

By Brandon Smith, IPB News | Published on in Government, Politics, Statewide News
(Photo: Public Domain)

Committees in the Indiana Senate and House have taken a first look at bills that would legalize Sunday alcohol carryout sales in the state.

Only the Senate committee took a vote on the issue – which it easily and unanimously approved.  As Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Brandon Smith reports, it’s the first time legislation to allow grocery, convenience, and liquor stores to sell alcohol on Sundays has advanced in the Senate.

Senate Committee

Public Policy Committee Chair Ron Alting is the author of the Sunday sales bill. He says a key to its passage is support from both grocery and liquor stores – the first time those groups have ever agreed on the subject. Alting also stresses he doesn’t want any changes to the measure.

“In the past, it has been we have been too restrictive to the entities that it affects. We have tried to do certain things of putting alcohol behind counters in big box [stores] and a separate person to ring it up and all kinds of obstacles that quite honestly just didn’t go over well.”

The bill simply allows stores that sell alcohol six days of the week to sell it on Sundays – from noon to 8:00 pm. The measure now heads to the full Senate.

House Committee

The House Public Policy Committee did not take a vote on the issue.  But it did hear close to an hour of testimony on the House version of the measure, which would also legalize Sunday sales from noon to 8 PM.

The Indiana Retail Council, representing grocery stores, is one of many groups who have rallied around the bill.  It says consumers want Sunday Sales.

The Coalition To Reduce Underage Drinking, however, wants to study the impact of Sunday sales on underage drinking. Lisa Hutcheson is the group’s director.

“We are not prohibitionists. We know that alcohol will continue to have a role in our society as it always has. But what role are we going to give it? The role of convenience beverage that is as accessible as milk or candy?”

The House committee expects to vote on the bill next week.