ATLANTA — Hope of finding a way to let local residents vote on whether to allow Sunday sales of alcohol is still alive this legislative session.
Rep. Roger Williams, R-Dalton, said he plans today to attach his Sunday sales bill onto a measure already passed in the Senate that would allow the Sunday sale of beer in some stadiums in the state.
That House bill, designed to benefit a Gwinnett County facility, will come up today in the Regulated Industries Committee of which Rep. Williams is chairman.
“If they vote on one, they ought to be able to vote for the other,” he said.
Rep. Williams said his bill would allow voters to choose whether alcohol could be sold on Sunday by retailers, such as grocery and package stores.
It would apply only to counties and cities in which voters already have approved by-the-drink sales of alcohol on Sundays. His own Whitfield County has not, but Dalton has.
Before the Senate voted in February to allow a Gwinnett County minor league baseball stadium to sell beer on Sundays, there were rumors that a statewide Sunday sales amendment would be attached to it during debate.
The senators left that up for the House to take a chance on. But senators were aware that if they approved the stadium sales bill, it might come back to them with the statewide Sunday sales amendment attached.
Rep. Williams also pushed this session to relax Georgia’s laws on direct shipments from Georgia wineries, a bill that passed the House in February.
He said it’s for the sake of Georgia residents, and he doesn’t want to “bring religion into” Sunday sales.
“Leave religion out of it,” Rep. Williams said. “People of different faiths celebrate their Sabbaths on different days.”
Georgians are interested and ready to vote on the issue, he said.
“The overwhelming sentiment is, “We want to vote on it,’” Rep. Williams said. “I trust the voters.”
House leaders have said they’re open to at least voting on Sunday sales. Any proposal would be a constitutional amendment that would allow a local governments to put the measure on ballots.
“The idea is we need to vote on it,” House Majority Leader Jerry Keen said. “If the Senate takes up a bill, we’ll vote on it. We will not hold a bill.”
Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, who voted against the Gwinnett stadium bill, said he’d have to look at the House’s final version before making a decision on Sunday alcohol sales.
He said he voted in February against the stadium serving beer on Sunday because so many children attend the games, and keeping one day without alcohol would be best. However, with Sunday sales, Sen. Thomas said local communities being required to vote on it “makes a world of difference.”
“I’m generally in favor of letting people vote in favor of what they want,” he said.
