Booze bill moves ahead

Grocery stores would be able to sell hard liquor

TALLAHASSEE — The wall between liquor and the rest of the grocery store is close to coming down.

On Thursday morning, the Florida Senate passed a bill allowing stores to sell liquor in grocery store aisles by a narrow 21-17 vote.

The bill cleared its final House committee, 15-13, on Wednesday. The bill now awaits a vote from the full House before going on to Gov. Rick Scott for a signature.

Independent liquor stores and Publix lobbied against the bill, while big box stores such as Target and Wal-Mart lobbied for it.

Publix was against the

bill because it has already spent so much money under the current law to keep its liquor stores separate.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, called the current setup “an antiquated law that forced retailers to treat the sale of one type of alcohol, that would be beer and wine, different than another type of alcohol, that would be spirits.”

The current law goes back to immediately after the Prohibition era, as liquor was slowly eased back into society.

“That happened 80 years ago,” Flores said. “A lot has changed in 80 years.”

The bill does not require grocery stores to make the change and gives them five years to transition to liquor sales in the regular grocery aisles.

In defending the current law, state Sen. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, pointed to potential negative effects on independent liquor stores, saying the bill would “decimate small businesses, and unfortunately a lot of Floridians will lose their jobs.”