INDIANAPOLIS The sponsor of a bill to legalize Sunday alcohol sales in Indiana says the issue is dead for this legislative session.
Republican Rep. Tom Dermody of LaPorte said Tuesday he doesn’t have enough votes for it to pass.
The issue has pitted grocery chains and convenience store owners against liquor stores over proposed restrictions on where alcohol could be displayed and sold.
The bill called for grocery stores and pharmacies to keep beer and wine in one designated area of a store and store liquor behind the counter.
Martin’s Super Markets is against the Sunday sales bill and took out a full page ad in the Sunday paper to say so.
They say tougher requirements built into the legislation, like keeping liquor behind a counter, will mean longer lines for customers and will cost millions of dollars in remodeling for grocery stores and pharmacies.
This is the first year that legislation to lift the state’s 80-year-old ban on Sunday alcohol sales had made it so far in the Legislature. Indiana has the last statewide “blue law” prohibiting Sunday retail sales of beer and other alcohol.
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