Bo Watson

PDF: Wine sales bill

NASHVILLE — A pair of bills that would allow Tennesseans to buy wine from grocery stores and over the Internet went sour Tuesday, running into opposition from liquor interests and lawmakers reluctant to make purchases of alcohol easier.

Both bills were delayed until the last committee meeting of the Senate State and Local Government Committee.

The panel’s chairman, Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, who is sponsoring the bill to permit wine sales in grocery stores, said he hopes to get approval from the Senate and House speakers to put the issue into a summer study committee.

He initially couldn’t get a second lawmaker to support moving the bill forward.

Sen. Ketron also put the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of Tennessee and the Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association on notice.

“I think the entire liquor laws in our state need to be addressed where one industry isn’t favored over the other,” he said. “We need to look at it from top to bottom.”

The president of the Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association, Jarron Springer, later said the group is not giving up on its efforts, noting “we’re in this for the long term.”

During the meeting, Chip Christianson, president of the Tennessee Wine & Spirit Retailers Association, said the debate is “a very simple issue between big and small.”

He said the legislation would benefit huge, out-of-state-headquartered corporations such as Wal-Mart and Kroger at the expense of an estimated 525 individually owned “mom and pop” liquor stores.

“I can absolutely guarantee we will lose employees,” warned Mr. Christianson, noting liquor stores have some 3,000 employees statewide.

A fiscal note on the bill states that as many as 1,800 of the state’s estimated 8,000 groceries might seek a license. Under the legislation, grocery stores could obtain a “wine at food store” license from the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission if the retail store is located in a county or city that legalized sales of wine and liquor.

The Internet bill would allows purchases via wineries or stores selling online.

Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said he objects to both bills. Some grocery stores may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage because they are located next to a church and cannot get licensed, he said.

He said he also opposes making alcohol sales more convenient whether that is through selling wine in grocery stores or via the Internet.

“I typically have been one ... who has voted for or against bills depending on their either circumventing current state law or local law or making alcohol convenient,” Sen. Watson said.

“I have no philosophical opposition to alcohol or its use for appropriate people or responsible people,” he said. “But just for the sake of convenience? I like a safeguard that makes it a little bit inconvenient.”

In other action:

n Senate Finance Committee members unanimously approved a bill that overhauls fees charged by clerks in Tennessee’s 95 counties.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dewayne Bunch, R-Cleveland, tosses out dozens of archaic measures, increases several remaining fees and implements a new $1 charge for clerks handling specialty vehicle tags.

n The House Civil Practice & Procedure Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee substantially changed a bill that seeks to cap non-economic awards in cases involving deaths and injuries in nursing homes. The bill then was delayed in hopes of reaching further compromise.

The amendment lifts the proposed cap from $300,000 to $500,00 and removes a provision putting such litigation under harder-to-prove malpractice statutes.

n A House subcommittee today may delay a Bredesen administration bill that would put new restrictions on the surface mining of non-coal materials such as mountain stone, according to a state Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman.

The bill is an effort to address how owners of mineral rights on materials such as mountain stone “harvest” the substance when it is on someone else’s property. It has become a major issue in Southeast Tennessee, where property owners are concerned about their property being destroyed.

Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, and Sen. Watson had legislation to deal with the issue. Rep. Floyd said he now has signed on to the administration bill.

“I thought we pretty much had an agreement last week,” Rep. Floyd said, but he noted Rep. Bill Harmon, D-Dunlap, may have raised additional questions.

The agreement called for owners of non-coal mineral rights to have either notarized agreements with property owners or come under state provisions requiring them to post a bond guaranteeing they would restore the property.

n Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga, and other Senate Democrats today intend to press Democrats’ scholarship proposals when the GOP-controlled Senate Education Committee meets on how to spend a $410 million to $450 million surplus in the Tennessee Education Lottery.