NASHVILLE - Beginning this Sunday, Tennessee consumers will be able to stroll into a retail package store and legally buy a bottle of wine or liquor under a seven-day bottle-sales bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Bill Haslam.
The new law immediately allows package stores, if their owners wish, to sell their products on Sundays, as well as most major holidays.
But under a political compromise struck with package stores to smooth passage, consumers won't be able to buy wine at their grocery stores on Sundays until Jan. 6.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, and Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro.
It also allows wine- and liquor-bottle sales on major holidays, although a last-minute House floor amendment brought by Rep. Tim Wirgau, R-Buchanan, sought to bar wine and bottle sales by package stores and the retail food stores on Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.
But the amendment, which passed, also accidentally de-coupled a tie-in between hours of package stores and grocery stores.
As a result, the Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving ban only applies to the package stores. Retail food stores, however, will be able to open on those holidays.
"This is a warning against having a committee meeting on the floor of the House and accepting an amendment on the floor of the House that really hasn't been vetted very well," McCormick said when asked about the gaffe.
"Tim Wirgau's amendment did this," McCormick said. "Obviously, it was not on purpose. He just made a mistake or didn't explain it correctly to [legislative] lawyers and nobody read it. They just took him at his word as to what it did. And I said, well, it sounds like it's harmless to me. And then what it did was screw the guys he said he was trying to help."
McCormick said there was some discussion about trying to fix it by putting a remedy on another bill.
"I said no, let Wirgau do it. Because I've had enough with liquor bills this year," McCormick added, laughing.
He noted the issue doesn't have to be addressed now because it won't become an issue until Easter 2019. Lawmakers can fix it quickly when they return for their 2019 session in January. Lawmakers hope to wrap up their annual session by Tuesday or perhaps Wednesday of next week.
According to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission, these are the new law's major provisions:
Retail Package Stores:
> Retail package stores can begin selling alcoholic beverages on Sunday, April 22, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.
> Retail package store shall not sell alcoholic beverages on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter.
> Retail package stores must immediately begin "marking up" the price of spirits by 10 percent. The minimum markup for wine remains 20 percent.
Retail Food (Grocery) Stores
> Retail food stores cannot sell wine on Sunday until Jan. 6, 2019.
> Thereafter, retail food stores can sell wine on Sundays between the hours of 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.
> Retail food stores may sell wine on any holiday.
Other provisions in the law pertain to another deal cut to soften opposition from package store owners. There is a three-year moratorium on new retail package stores in jurisdictions where package stores were approved prior to April 1, 2018.
That's coupled with a provision allowing current liquor store owners for the first time to sell their licenses to someone. Various changes in Tennessee's decades-old liquor laws, including the 2015 law allowing grocery stores to sell wine, have a number of existing owners looking at exiting the business.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.