Indiana Senate approves bill to keep fight against cold beer sales alive
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The fight over cold beer in Indiana will last another two weeks after the legislators approved a bill.
For the past two weeks, a lot of the debate and talk at the Statehouse has centered on Ricker’s Gas Station. The debate even went outside as Ricker’s brought its food truck to the Statehouse lawn Tuesday.
The reason the company did was to show its burrito operation should allow the gas station to be considered a restaurant.
Why a restaurant? It’s to allow the gas station to sell cold beer. It was something it started to do last month at two of its locations.
It’s the issue that’s become the 2017 session problem lawmakers never saw coming. “There’s always something, as you say, right? There’s always something,” State Senate Pro-tem David Long said.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Commission approved the permits, but lawmakers said only package stores should be allowed to do this. “In this case, the agency made some mistakes in my opinion and we’ll just have to deal with the fallout from that,” Senate Pro-tem Long said.
In the Senate, lawmakers want to block Ricker’s by requiring stores to have 60 percent sales from people drinking at the business.
It is a measure that irked some. “This is another knee-jerk reaction to something that has occurred because somebody did something that they didn’t think that we could do,” State Sen. Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville) said.
The measure though overwhelming passed. “I don’t think we want every convenience store in Indiana to become a liquor store,” Senate Pro-tem Long said.
It’s a different story in the House. Lawmakers wanted the threshold to be 30 percent sales from people drinking at the business. But the author failed to call it for a vote. Since Thursday was third reading deadline day, it was now or never.
“There were a lot of minds that were changed in caucus,” House Speaker Brian Bosma said. “It might have gone down had it been voted on today.”
This means the House will now have to take up the Senate’s proposal before lawmakers adjourn April 21st. “We have to form a consensus or there’s a potential for 5,000 new of hard alcohol outlets on corners throughout our state,” House Speaker Bosma said.
“Obviously, we still have several key pieces and we have to get all that done,” Senate Pro-tem Long said. “If we don’t get it done by the 21st, we’ll be back here every day, and not go home, if that’s what it takes because we don’t have hotels to stay in that next week.”
Ricker’s gas station released a statement to 24-hour news 8 after Thursday’s events.
Despite the overwhelming public outcry for fairness and transparency regarding Ricker’s restaurants and reforming our state’s liquor laws, the House inexplicably decided that Indiana should remain in the 1930s. The will of the people was thwarted today, and it is incumbent upon the leadership of the General Assembly to explain why. It is no exaggeration to say that every single person who has spoken to me about this issue has expressed complete and utter dismay at how Ricker’s and other restaurants have been treated during this legislative session. Stifling free enterprise and the free market is not how we get a State that Works.”
Lawmakers said Ricker’s action sent a missile into the session. If there is a silver lining in this, it could start significant talk to change Indiana’s alcohol laws beyond the next two weeks.