Legislation seeks statewide vote about beer, wine sales

Legislation seeking a statewide vote on fullstrength beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores cleared the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday.

If passed by the Legislature, Senate Joint Resolution 68 would be referred to a vote of the people in November in hopes of changing the bulk of state alcohol laws. Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, is the primary author of the legislation, along with Sen. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman.

The aim is to give voters a chance to decide whether to bring Oklahoma’s alcohol laws in line with most other states, Jolley said.

“The goal of this is not to put anyone out of business, but to aid consumers,” Jolley said.

Retail package store owners attended the meeting at the Capitol, many wearing stickers provided by brewer Anheuser-Busch proclaiming their opposition to SJR 68.

Bryan Kerr, president of the Oklahoma Retail Liquor Association, said the measure would put about half of the state’s liquor stores out of business, making them unable to compete with chain grocery and convenience stores.

“It will result in the loss of jobs, despite his (Jolley’s) claims otherwise, and the loss of local businesses, despite his claims otherwise,” Kerr said.

The legislation would allow for wine and fullstrength beer sales in grocery and convenience stores. Cold beer and wine sales also would be allowed at retail stores.

The measure also would allow retail liquor stores to sell “any item that may be purchased at a grocery or convenience store” as long as sales of such nonalcohol items don’t make up more than 20 percent of a store’s total sales.

Kerr said those concessions would not be enough

to help Oklahoma package stores stay in business.

Legal hours for alcohol sales in the state would be left for the Legislature to work out later.

Anheuser Busch, one of the largest beer distributors and sellers in the state, says SJR 68 would essentially make the company pull out of the state by forcing it to sell its distribution business within five years.

The measure would ban common ownership between alcohol manufacturing, wholesale and retail operations in the state. Brewers, such as Anheuser-Busch, would be able to maintain licenses to distribute beer in no more than two territories in the state, also known as “brewery-owned branches” but would be forced to divest all brewery owned branches within five years.

Anheuser-Busch took out a full-page ad in Wednesday’s editions of The Oklahoman, as well as a number of television ads, stating the legislation would force the company to cease operations in the state, as well as raise the price of beer.

The company employs about 700 people in the state, said Eric James, senior director of sales and marketing for Anheuser-Busch Sales of Oklahoma.

“This would impact hundreds of jobs and cause significant market disruption,” James said. “We don’t feel that this is a related or a necessary part of modernization for consumers.”

In the committee meeting, Sens. Kim David, R-Porter, and Frank Simpson, R-Ardmore, both expressed concerns that SJR 68 would harm local businesses and eliminate jobs.

“I feel that we are picking winners and losers with this,” David said.

Jolley said the legislation would benefit consumers, giving them more choices, as well as benefit the economy.

“I think there is plenty of money and jobs to go around. This is not a job killer, it’s a market changer,” he said.

Oklahomans for Consumer Freedom, a group backed by a number of large retailers, supports SJR 68, spokeswoman Gwendolyn Caldwell said.

“Oklahomans want this choice and want this ability to buy their single-strength beer and wine in their grocery and convenience stores,” she said.