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View Full Version : Will the Recession Doom the Last Sunday Blue Laws?



LiberalNation
02-23-2009, 03:38 PM
One can only hope so. My county's dry anyway so wouldn't effect but would be a boom to the rest of kentucky.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090223/us_time/08599188034000

handful of state legislatures have declared it's closing time for Sunday alcohol sales restrictions, saying an extra day of sales could give their foundering budgets a much-needed shot of revenue. Those states - Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota - enjoy overwhelming voter support for an extra day of sales, but face opposition from members of the Christian right, who say that selling on Sunday undermines safety and tears apart families. "During times of economic stress, our families are under enough pressure," says Jim Beck, the president of the Georgia Christian Coalition. "I don't think we need to add even more pressure to those families by passing this law."


But proponents of Sunday sales argue that state budgets are under plenty of pressure too and that by allowing people to buy beer, wine or liquor on Sunday at grocery or package stores, states could reap millions of dollars in tax revenue. Besides, as President Roosevelt learned in the 1930s when he successfully repealed Prohibition, drinks have a way of keeping hopes high when things look bleak. In Johnathan Alter's The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, the President recognized that legally-procured cocktails were the way to keep spirits high when Americans were trying to get used to putting their trust into the nation's crumbling banking system again. And, it could be argued, the sales also helped stimulate the economy in the middle of the Great Depression.


"[Sunday sales legislation] always comes bubbling up when the economy goes south," says David Laband, an Auburn University economics professor who authored Blue Laws: The History, Economics, and Politics of Sunday-Closing Laws. Blue laws, which restrict shopping of any kind on Sunday, date back to the colonial era, Laband says. However, those laws gradually died off as economic forces made some states realize that they could stand to gain by having stores open on Sunday. For example, the entry of women into the workforce in World War II made weekend shopping a necessity.


"Slowly and systematically we've seen these laws lifted in past century, even more so when there has been an economic downturn," Laband says. "States realize that consumers will migrate to a place where they can buy what they want. And whatever their reasons are for not wanting to sell on Sunday, these states realize they're paying a price for it in foregone tax revenues. So once the economy goes bad, then the cost of their policies are apparent to them."


Beck argues that when you're facing a budget shortfall in the billions, the extra revenue from an added day of alcohol sales is just a drop in the bucket. His opponents, however, insist it is significant. "At least it's a drop," says Georgia Senator Seth Harp, who introduced a bill proposing local referendums on Sunday sales. "Maybe it's even a cup full. But right now, I'd like to have a couple of cups full than nothing at all."


Three states - Georgia, Connecticut and Indiana - ban the sale of beer, wine and spirits, while 15 ban only liquor sales. Connecticut is considering repealing its ban because it has been losing revenue to New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, three neighboring states that repealed Sunday sales bans in 2003. Texas is also reconsidering Sunday sales bans of liquor, with three bills in the state's Senate, two of them specific to sales along the Texas-Mexico border. "States are seeing Sunday sales as a positive way to raise revenue without raising taxes or cutting valuable programs," says Ben Jenkins, spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. "That, along with consumer demand, is driving this change."


And though religious groups have sounded off about how Sunday sales are harmful to families, legislators such as Harp are reaching out to them by adding enforcement provisions designed to crack down on store owners who sell to minors. In a state like Georgia, where more than two-thirds of residents say they'd like to be able to buy a six pack on the sabbath, Harp's efforts may just win his bill votes, even though Governor Sonny Perdue, a teetotaler, said he'd veto any bill that came across his desk.


But Perdue won't be in office forever and anti-Sunday sales advocates across the nation may realize the tide is turning against them too. "People have got a lot of activities that occupy their time, attention and affection on Sunday and shopping is one of them," Laband says. "Churches have had to come to grips with that; they haven't drawn a line in the sand and said 'You have to go to church.' So the trend is clear that states will do away with some of these alcohol prohibitions. It will happen. It's just a matter of when."

DannyR
02-23-2009, 03:43 PM
saying an extra day of sales could give their foundering budgets a much-needed shot of revenue

This reminds me of the various "gas boycotts" that make the rounds periodically, asking people not to buy gas on a certain day.

Problem with the theory is that people pretty much consume the same amount of alcohol and gas either way, and if they don't buy on one day, they'll just buy on the day before or after.

So I really don't see sales increasing at all.

That said, I think Georgia's blue laws are silly, and selling on Sunday wouldn't undermine anybody's family or compromise anybody's safety.

Mr. P
02-23-2009, 04:10 PM
I think our Governor Sonny Perdue can be swayed by the tax collected on Sunday sales during this time of disappearing revenue and potential refusal of stimulus $$..

This no retail sale of alcohol on Sunday (other than in a restaurant which is dumb as hell! Hey drink an drive, right?) is the only blue law here that I know still exists...

Thank GAWD!

EDIT: Danny..I heard rumor they wanna increase beer tax..the ole sin tax BS.

DannyR
02-23-2009, 04:43 PM
Not certain, but it seems most of the nude clubs here are closed on Sundays. But that might be due to the alcohol restrictions rather than laws aimed specifically at the venue.

5stringJeff
02-23-2009, 06:40 PM
I tried to buy beer once on Sunday, when I first moved down here. I was amazed that you couldn't! Seriously, can anyone give me one good reason why you shouldn't be able to buy alcohol on Sunday?

DannyR
02-23-2009, 06:41 PM
Because if you need alcohol on Sundays then you are obviously a raging alcoholic who's going to hell. Thus the good Christians of the state think you should stop. :laugh2:

5stringJeff
02-23-2009, 06:50 PM
Because if you need alcohol on Sundays then you are obviously a raging alcoholic who's going to hell. Thus the good Christians of the state think you should stop. :laugh2:

Well, I consider myself a good Christian of this state, but I can't agree with that line of reasoning.

Yurt
02-23-2009, 06:53 PM
I tried to buy beer once on Sunday, when I first moved down here. I was amazed that you couldn't! Seriously, can anyone give me one good reason why you shouldn't be able to buy alcohol on Sunday?

your problem....you don't trust the government enough. have more faith!

DannyR
02-23-2009, 07:02 PM
Well, I consider myself a good Christian of this state, but I can't agree with that line of reasoning.Obviously you are not the right type of Christian. Probably belong to a cult such as the Presbyterian Church rather than "real" Christians such as Southern Baptists. :laugh2:

5stringJeff
02-23-2009, 08:38 PM
Obviously you are not the right type of Christian. Probably belong to a cult such as the Presbyterian Church rather than "real" Christians such as Southern Baptists. :laugh2:

You would think. But, believe it or not, I am a member of a Southern Baptist church, in good standing!

DannyR
02-23-2009, 08:45 PM
You would think. But, believe it or not, I am a member of a Southern Baptist church, in good standing!Actually I am too. I never did anything about my membership and still attend periodically when I want to visit with some old friends.

Trigg
02-24-2009, 12:31 PM
Well guys here in good old Indiana, not only can you NOT buy alcohol on Sundays, but you can only buy cold beer at a liquor store.

I was amazed when we were in Wisconsin and they had cold beer at a Wal-Mart. :laugh2:

Most other states I've lived in sold alcohol only after noon on Sunday. Guess they wanted to make sure everyone went to Church before they started drinking.