Tennessee Lawmakers Renew Push For Sunday Booze Sales

NASHVILLE, TN -- Wine and liquor would be available for sale on Sunday in Tennessee under a measure filed by a leading Republican legislator.

Rep. Gerald McCormick, the former House Majority Leader, is sponsoring a bill which would align wine and liquor sales with the hours for beer sales. Under current law, wine and liquor cannot be sold between 11 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Monday in addition to certain holidays. That law came into sharp focus in 2017, as it does every seven years or so, when liquor stores were closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Grocery stores which sell wine have the same restrictions as package stores.

The bill is cosponsored in the House by Rep. Glen Casada, McCormick's successor as majority leader, and Rep. Bob Ramsey. A companion bill in the Senate is being carried by Sen. Bill Ketron. All of the current sponsors and cosponsors are Republicans.

The push comes two years after the last major chance to Tennessee's alcohol laws which permitted wine sales in grocery stores.

Rob Ikard, the CEO of the Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association, told The Tennessean grocery stores support the measure, in large part because many people do their grocery shopping on Sunday. Ikard also said that liquor stores, particularly those that share parking lots with grocery stores, would benefit from increased traffic.

On the other hand, Will Cheek, a leading alcohol-law attorney, told the paper that the liquor store and distributors lobby - for generations, one of Tennessee's most powerful special interest groups - would likely oppose the move, because they'd fear a further slice of the booze revenue pie going to grocery stores.

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