The General Assembly’s Finance Committee has revived legislation to finally end Connecticut’s antiquated blue law ban on the Sunday sale of alcohol at neighborhood grocery and package stores.

According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 66% of Connecticut voters strongly support ending the ban, which would raise up to $8 million in annual new revenue for the state, create jobs, and mean more convenience for consumers.

The Finance Committee and the General Assembly should be doing everything possible to raise revenues before raising taxes. Ending the Sunday sales ban is a simple and common sense way to do this.

Click here to contact members of the Finance Committee today and tell them to end the Sunday sales ban!

Connecticut’s pizza parlors and package stores have a lot in common:

• Both are small family owned and operated businesses.
• Both serve their local neighborhoods and local consumers.
• Both work long hours.
• Both offer takeout products.
• Many are located in strip mall shopping centers.

Yet when it comes to competing for customers, Connecticut’s package stores get special protection. They are protected from competition by an outdated blue law which prohibits ALL stores, even those that WANT to be open, from selling beer, wine, and spirits on Sundays.

How is this fair? Why do package store owners get special protection, while others – like pizzerias, car dealers, and coffee shops – have the option to compete just like everyone else on Sundays? Why are alcoholic beverages the only consumer commodity prohibited from being sold on Sunday at retail stores?

It would seem the only reason is that package store owners have powerful lobbyists who will do anything to maintain an unfair and anti-consumer special deal for a protected class of small businesses that don’t want to compete for customers like every other small business in Connecticut. And, on top of that, deprive the people of Connecticut of much needed tax revenue to offset the state’s huge budget deficit.

Unfortunately, the General Law Committee recently chose not to take action on common sense legislation to end Connecticut’s antiquated blue law ban on the Sunday sale of alcohol at neighborhood grocery and package stores.

In doing so, the legislature voted against increased convenience for consumers and against up to $80 million in new tax revenue for the state over the next 10 years. That’s money that could go toward the state’s budget deficit and help prevent the elimination of important social programs.

Despite this setback, we’re not giving up!

It’s time for the General Assembly to stop playing politics, stop questioning the obvious increase in tax revenue, stop hurting Connecticut businesses who want to be open and sell alcoholic beverages on Sundays, and stop hurting consumers who want the choice to purchase alcohol on Sundays.

Contact Governor Dan Malloy, House Speaker Christopher Donovan, and Senate President Donald Williams and tell them to include the Sunday sales ban repeal in the state budget!

- House Speaker Christopher Donovan, 860-240-8500
- Senate President Donald Williams, 860-240-8600
- Governor Dan Malloy, 860-566-4840

http://endctbluelaws.org/take-action

The Connecticut General Assembly still has not voted on common sense legislation to end the state’s antiquated blue law ban on the Sunday sale of beer, wine, and spirits at neighborhood grocery and package stores. Contact your legislators today and tell them to raise revenue before raising taxes by ending the Sunday sales ban now!

Hartford Courant – End Sunday Sales Ban, Make Money:

Connecticut is alone in New England and one of only a few states nationwide that bans Sunday sales of alcohol.

Consumers are denied this convenience largely because small retailers don’t want to open on Sunday and have for years hired powerful lobbyists to get their way.

It’s time that consumer voices were heard. Quaint blue laws protecting a relatively few small operators have no business being on the books in the 21st century.

Hartford Courant – End This Blue Law:

Connecticut Post – Time to end this outdated custom:

Connecticut’s ban on Sunday alcohol sales is a musty custom that makes about as much sense today as declaring a sneezing fit the sign of a witch . . . There’s simply no logical reason why a person could buy groceries, a washing machine, a gallon of paint . . . and not a gallon of the liquor of their choice or a six-pack of beer.

The Bristol Press – Let the business decide:

But we are constantly hearing that businesses want less regulation, not more. The decision to remain open should be left to the individual store. Those on the border could remain open in order to compete, while those in the middle of the state can decide whether they want to close, stay open or hold limited hours.

As for us, we’re for freedom — to allow those stores that want to be open on Sunday to do so, just like every other retail business, small and large. Let each owner decide what makes business sense.

Testimony of Stan Sorkin, Connecticut Food Association

In support of SB084: An Act Concerning the Retail Sale of Alcoholic Beverages on Sunday

Before the General Law Committee

February 8, 2011

Good afternoon Chairman Taborsak, Chairman Doyle, and members of the General Law Committee. My name is Stan Sorkin and I am the President of the Connecticut Food Association.

The Connecticut Food Association is the state trade association that conducts programs in public affairs, food safety, research, education and industry relations on behalf of its 240 member companies—food retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and service providers in the state of Connecticut. CFA’s members in Connecticut operate approximately 300 retail food stores and 250 pharmacies. Their combined estimated annual sales volume of $5.7 billion represents 75% of all retail food store sales in Connecticut. CFA’s retail membership is composed of large multi-store chains, regional firms, and single store independent supermarkets. CFA’s 90 associate members include the supplier partners of its retail and wholesale members.

I am here today to voice the Connecticut Food Association’s strong support for Senate Bill 084 to end the state’s antiquated blue law ban on the Sunday sale of alcoholic beverages at our neighborhood grocery and package stores.

Connecticut is one of only three states in the entire country, and the only state in the Northeast that still prohibits the Sunday sale of alcoholic beverages at retail establishments.  This ban is highly inconvenient for Connecticut’s consumers and is also costing our stores and our state lost business and tax revenue.  This is particularly true for our member stores near the border of neighboring states that have eliminated this blue law prohibition.

Connecticut’s neighborhood grocery stores have safely and responsibly sold beer to our customers for years.  Our member stores are already open seven days a week, yet they can only sell beer Monday through Saturday.  This means lost sales and less convenience for our customers, particularly as Sunday has become the most popular shopping days of the week.

Lifting the current ban will mean more sales for all retailers- both package store and food stores-, which will, in turn, mean more hours for store employees and new jobs. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States has documented that revenue has increased 5-8% when Sunday sales have been allowed.  Increased sales will also create new sales tax revenue, new excise tax revenue, and additional unclaimed deposit escheat revenue for the state.  According to a recent Program Review and Investigations Committee report, Connecticut could see an increase of up to $8 million in new revenue if the Sunday alcohol sales prohibition were repealed. We need this revenue to help close our state’s budget deficit this year and in future years and to spare important social programs from deep budget cuts.

The retail industry is a seven day a week business. The retail industry is all about providing consumers with more choice and convenience. Ending Connecticut’s outdated ban on Sunday alcohol sales will do just that.  At the same time, there is absolutely nothing in this legislation that would prohibit package store owners from remaining closed on Sunday if they so choose. More importantly, it allows package goods and grocery stores located near the borders to compete on an even playing field for sales seven days a week. Why does Connecticut force a retailer to shutter his doors and deny him or her the opportunity to increase revenue? It’s not fair in a free market economy.

As Edward Peter Stringham, Visiting Associate Professor of American Business and Economic Enterprise at Trinity College, wrote on Feb 27, 2010 in a Hartford Courant Your View Op-Ed piece titled “ Not Just Booze Taxes Lost to Sunday Ban” and I quote,

“Right now, Connecticut likely loses millions in state tax revenue every year from residents crossing into New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to buy alcohol on Sundays. Ending the massively inconvenient restriction would keep Connecticut residents shopping in-state instead of out of state. It’s also important to note that when customers cross the border to pick up tequila for Sunday night margaritas or beer for the football game, they’re also buying gas, grabbing lunch or even shopping at the mall. Connecticut loses out on all that peripheral revenue as well.

Keeping these customers in Connecticut on Sundays means more tax revenue for the state. Every time a customer buys alcohol in Connecticut instead of another state, the treasury collects a variety of taxes and fees. In fact, the only people who should be upset about Connecticut allowing Sunday sales are the package store owners on the borders in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Further, Sunday is the second busiest retail shopping day of the week. By denying Sunday shoppers the opportunity to buy a particular item, the state arbitrarily prevents potential in-state customers from purchasing products that are available every other day. Believe it or not, there are a fair amount of people in Connecticut who have only Sundays available for shopping trips — I being one of them.

Ultimately, the decision to offer Sunday sales should be just another business matter such as how to price items, which products to stock and what color to paint the walls. It is, after all, a store owner’s choice whether or not to open, if Sunday liquor sales were to be allowed. Some store owners, those not in highly trafficked areas, will choose to remain closed. Store owners along the border will no doubt open to compete with neighboring businesses.

In short, Sunday sales are simply another tool for liquor store owners to use at their discretion. Modern entrepreneurs flourish when given the flexibility to better compete — and that certainly is to the benefit of Connecticut’s economy.”

In addition, I have attached a copy of a letter sent to the Governor and members of the General Assembly which address the myths put forward by the Package Store Association and the facts that contradict those falsehoods.

In conclusion, raising state revenue at the same time you are increasing retail sales is good for the economy and good for Connecticut.

For all of these reasons, I urge you to support Senate Bill 084 and the lifting of Connecticut’s outdated blue law ban on the Sunday sale of alcoholic beverages.

Testimony submitted by Jay Hibbard, VP Government Relations

Distilled Spirits Council of the United States

In support of Connecticut Raised H.B. 6264

Senator Doyle, Representative Taborsak, Members of the Committee:

My name is Jay M. Hibbard, Vice President of Government Relations for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), a national trade association representing the world’s leading makers and marketers of distilled spirits.  I am testifying today in support of HB 6264, which recommends that package and grocery stores be allowed but not obligated to open on Sundays for the sale of beer, wine and distilled spirits.

This change was recommended in the Program Review and Investigations Committee Staff  Findings report entitled “Connecticut’s Economic Competitiveness in Selected Areas” issued on December 17, 2009. That report clearly indicated that allowing the change would provide consumers in Connecticut with significant added convenience as well as lead to increased revenues for the Connecticut State Treasury.

Across the country, more and more states are modernizing alcohol sales laws as a way to raise revenue without having to further tax the hospitality industry.   Since 2002, 14 states have passed laws permitting Sunday sales year round. Those states are Colorado, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Ohio, Idaho, Kansas, Washington, Virginia as well as Connecticut’s three bordering states New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  There are a number of reasons states are making these changes:

• In the 21^st Century, Sunday has become an important retail day, in fact, the second busiest shopping day of the week.  In today’s society, the majority of families are comprised of dual income adults who do most of their shopping on the weekend.  Allowing the sale of spirits, beer and wine at liquor and grocery stores on Sunday gives adult consumers more choices and added convenience. Shoppers also tend to spend as much as 21% more on Sunday than any other day of the week.

• The State of Connecticut would benefit from this change as well. The current combination of high excise taxes and limited shopping opportunities depress state liquor sales.  Many potential customers either do not buy at all, or simply make their purchases in neighboring states. By opening on Sunday, the staff report estimates if all stores decide to open on Sunday, this recommendation should result in increased revenue to the state of $7.5 to $8 million. DISCUS estimates that the increase in spirits sales volume would translate to between $1.7 and $2.3 million in new state revenues.  This would be a net increase in sales and not merely spread current sales out over more days.

• Recent implementation of Sunday Sales in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Oregon gave an immediate boost to state tax revenues.  Colorado, the most recent state to adopt Sunday sales realized a 6% increase in excise tax collections in the first year.  The chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board called Sunday sales a “grand slam homerun” and reported that Sunday sales did not detract from sales results on other days.  In Oregon, a survey by the State Stores Association found that stores open on Sundays increased their revenues between 9.2 and 19.6 percent. In the first full year after implementation of Sunday sales, New York and Delaware saw a 7% and 10% increase in sales respectively. We base our assumptions on data, not anecdotal information and the state’s PRI staff recommendations indicate that our projections are sound and credible. In short, Sunday sales would lead to increased revenues for Connecticut’s Treasury

To quote Jeanne McEvoy, president of the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, “The decision to allow Sunday sales was absolutely the right one for Colorado.  Our customers were demanding the convenience and flexibility to shop on Sundays – and our store owners wanted to accommodate them.  After all, isn’t that the point of running a business – serving the customer?  The Prohibition of Sunday alcohol sales, especially when restaurants and bars are already serving alcohol, simply serves no purpose today and creates an anti-competitive environment that hurts consumers and the store owners who would like the chance to open.”

A change allowing the sale of alcohol on Sundays would not require retailers to open on Sunday; it simply gives them the right and flexibility to decide whether or not to open. The current restriction impedes the package store owner’s ability to work when they want, and how long they want and this restriction impacts more than just the storeowner.  Thousands of Connecticut citizens are employed through companies in Connecticut who make, distribute and sell these products.  During challenging economic times, this change could mean more job security for these hard workers.

Those opposed to any Sunday sales base their objections on the unauthenticated argument that allowing package stores to open on Sunday will increase underage purchases and alcohol abuse.  In fact, an analysis of U.S. government data showed no increase in underage drinking or drunk driving related fatalities.  There is no statistical difference in states that allow Sunday sales compared to those that do not. In a previous interview, Charles Hurley, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving at the time, said the organization does not oppose the responsible sale of alcohol, including on Sunday, as long as states protect the public.  The reason is that Sunday sales has not led to any increase in underage drinking or drunk driving in states that have allowed it. Further, research has shown that underage persons obtain alcohol, not from package stores or grocery stores, but from legal aged family members and friends.

The law clearly states that if you are under twenty-one you cannot purchase alcohol. The best defense against underage purchases is for the grocer or package store owner or employee to ask for identification at every point of sale. Certainly, the laws that pertain to beverage alcohol purchases remain the same whether alcohol is purchased on a Tuesday, a Wednesday or a Sunday. Alcohol is already available for sale on Sundays at Connecticut’s restaurants and bars. Permitting package stores and grocers to open simply gives adult consumers more convenience to shop on their terms.

The Hartford Courant, the Connecticut Post, the Record Journal, the Bristol Press and the Chronicle newspapers, among others, have all editorialized in support of Sunday sales for these same reasons. Governor Dannell Malloy recently said that said “Sunday alcohol sales is a no-brainer for me.” Poll after poll of Connecticut’s citizens has indicated strong support for the change, the convenience and the additional revenue.  We would urge you to positively recommend the changes of HB 6264 and allow Connecticut’s retailers and consumers the added choice and convenience they deserve.

In an editorial column in the Journal Inquirer, Managing editor Chris Powell supports ending Connecticut’s antiquated blue law ban on the Sunday sale of alcohol at neighborhood grocery and package stores:

According to the longtime lobbyist for the Connecticut Package Stores Association, anyone who wants to be able to buy beer, wine, and liquor on Sunday is likely a drunk.

That’s what the lobbyist, Carroll J. Hughes, told the Connecticut Post the other day: “If you’re worried about buying on Sunday, maybe you shouldn’t be drinking at all.”

Of course Hughes’ clients will still sell you liquor whether you’re a drunk or not — they just want to do it at their convenience, not yours, while claiming that state law enforces their convenience for your own good.

Always in thrall to any three people who have a letterhead and make campaign contributions, the General Assembly has been heeding the parasitic nonsense of the liquor store lobby for decades. But maybe not this year. Connecticut’s finances have collapsed under state government’s intrusive bloat, of which the Sunday liquor sales ban is a part, and the ban’s repeal might recover a few million dollars in taxes that Connecticut forfeits in border state liquor sales on Sunday, when Hughes’ clients don’t want to have to compete as all other retailers in the state do.

Most people find it convenient to shop on Sunday, and most such people are not drunks. Yes, allowing liquor sales on Sunday wouldn’t increase sales and tax receipts much, mostly just relocate them from other days of the week. But so what? Sunday sales would increase competition in the liquor business and improve service to customers. No other business is given such control over its hours of operation. There’s no good reason here either.

Governor Malloy will sign legislation repealing the Sunday sales ban. If, amid the ruin to which special-interest politics has brought Connecticut, the General Assembly can’t stand up to this most venal special interest even now, there may be no hope for the state.

Tomorrow, the General Assembly’s General Law Committee will hold a hearing on legislation to end Connecticut’s antiquated blue law ban on the Sunday sale of beer, wine, and spirits at neighborhood grocery and package stores. Now is the time to contact your legislators in support of this common sense legislation which will create jobs, raise revenues, and create more choice and convenience for Connecticut consumers.

Help end the Sunday sales blue law! Contact your legislators today!

• Governor Dan Malloy: 800-406-1527
• Senate Democrats: 800-842 1420
• Senate Republicans: 800-842-1421
• House Democrats: 800-842-8267
• House Republicans: 800-842-1423