Should Connecticut consumers be allowed to purchase alcohol on Sundays in supermarkets and package stores?
That long-running question has been heating up again this year at the state Capitol.
But the landscape has changed with a new governor and new legislators. For the first time in recent memory, the legislature's general law committee will be holding a public hearing on the issue on Tuesday at 10 a.m. as proponents and opponents battle over the alcohol sales.
A different committee - the Program Review and Investigations Committee - held a public hearing last year, but the general law committee is the crucial one in getting the ball rolling on the bill. The hearing will be held in Room 2C, the largest committee room for public hearings.
One of the main opponents, Sen. Thomas Colapietro, was the longtime committee co-chairman, but he lost in November's election.
"We have a different committee, and the governor said he would sign if it it came to his desk,'' said Carroll J. Hughes, the chief lobbyist for the state's package store owners. "He told me that personally. One thing about Malloy is he doesn't forget what he says.''
Nearly a year ago, Malloy told Capitol Watch that he would sign the controversial bill that would allow the Sunday sales if he was elected governor.
Malloy's comments at the time came after the Democratic mayors of the state's three largest cities all called upon the Democrat-controlled legislature to break the long-standing provision that prevents retailers from selling beer, wine or liquor in package stores and supermarkets on Sundays.
"If it passed the legislature, I would absolutely sign it,'' Malloy told Capitol Watch at the time. "It's not a difficult call. ... We don't protect other industries from competition on Sunday. That's the reality.''
Malloy, however, said he would not propose the Sunday sales in his budget if he was elected governor. Saying it was a legislative issue, he would allow the General Assembly to make the first step. Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell opposed the concept and never included it in her budgets.