Happy hours, space whiskey and Sunday sales: Effort to loosen NC alcohol laws clears legislative hurdle

A major overhaul of North Carolina’s alcohol laws, which would allow Sunday liquor sales and happy hour drink specials, cleared a key hurdle Tuesday at the statehouse, though its ultimate fate is unclear.

Senate Bill 527 cleared the House Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee Tuesday on a unanimous vote. It would let local governments open their ABC stores at 10 a.m. or later on Sundays, undoing a statewide prohibition. They would have the same option on holidays, except Christmas and Thanksgiving.

A state prohibition on happy hours would also be undone, again allowing local government leaders to authorize the change by passing an ordinance.

The measure would also restore a pandemic-era rule allowing restaurants to sell mixed drinks to go and for delivery. There's also a bill section cutting liquor taxes for a Durham Company that wants to send whiskey into outer space.

On Tuesday lawmakers added a new provision to the bill that would let community colleges sell beer and wine at sporting events, something the legislature authorized for universities in 2019.

The bill would also simplify permitting and sales processes for restaurants and other ABC permit holders, something that community requested. For example: Right now businesses can only get their liquor from a designated warehouse, causing problems when that warehouse is out of a particular liquor. This bill would loosen that rule.

Despite the unanimous committee vote, two committee members complained that the bill doesn’t include changes sought by the state’s craft distillery industry. The bill is expected to run through two more House committees before it comes to the floor for a full chamber vote.

Conservative religious groups oppose the bill. North Carolina Christian Action League Executive Director Mark Creech called the measure “a paradigm shift in alcohol policy in this state" when he spoke against it during the committee meeting.

North Carolina has some of the strictest alcohol laws in the country. It’s one of just a handful of states that don't currently allow happy-hour drink specials. State lawmakers banned them in the 1980s, when the state was cracking down on drunk driving.

Other changes to the bill would:

• Add two members to the ABC Commission that regulates alcohol sales in North Carolina, both appointed by the legislature. Currently there are three members, all appointed by the governor. The General Assembly’s Republican majority is pushing several measures stripping the governor of appointments or diluting his authority.
• Enable higher prices for the cheapest liquors, due to a new minimum pricing floor.
• Add rules for the sale of hard-to-get liquors, such as rare bourbons. Stores would have to keep a list of who receives these bottles, and it would be illegal to resell them, triggering a minimum $500 fine.
• Let ABC stores charge more for gift boxes, which are often sold at holidays and typically come with a bottle of liquor plus glassware. Moffitt, R-Henderson, said the law forbids ABC stores now from charging more than they charge just for the bottle, so they’re “effectively giving away” the glasses, which means liquor companies don’t always ship their best gift sets to North Carolina.
• Let ABC stores sell gift cards.
• Loosen rules on for alcohol sales on trains.
• Loosen mixed drink sale maximums at conventions and festivals.
• Streamline the process for transferring ownership of an establishment that sells alcohol due to a backlog that lawmakers say has lengthened process times.