Paul Jahnige of Stop & Shop speaks in favor of Sunday liquor sales. (Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant)
Liquor manufacturers and package store owners are squaring off Tuesday over the emotional issue of allowing the Sunday sales of alcohol in supermarkets and package stores.
Proponents said that changing the law would lead to increase sales and thus increased tax receipts in the cash-strapped state. The liquor manufacturers say the state would received an increase of $8 million per year in taxes, while the legislature's non-partisan fiscal office places the number at $3.6 million. But the package stores association, which is strongly opposed to Sunday sales, says the increase could be only $100,000 because the current sales volume over six days would be simply spread to seven days.
Link: Sunday Liquor Sales Bill
Connecticut is the only state in New England with an across-the-board ban on the sale of beer on Sundays in supermarkets and package stores.
The two biggest changes this year are that two of the biggest opponents of Sunday sales - state Sen. Thomas Colapietro of Bristol and former Gov. M. Jodi Rell - are no longer at the Capitol. In contrast to Rell, new Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says he would sign the Sunday sales bill if it reaches his desk - but he says he is not making any efforts to push the bill because he is tied up with trying to close the state's projected $3.7 billion deficit.
During the first hour of the hearing, one of the key witnesses was Jay Hibbard, vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, known as DISCUS. The package store owners dispute virtually everything DISCUS says, and DISCUS disputes the contention by the package stores that many will go out of business if Sunday sales are legalized.
DISCUS represents the biggest brands in the country, including manufacturer Diageo of Norwalk. DISCUS, which paid recently for a full-page advertisement on the issue in The Hartford Courant, is a key player in the battle. They were joined by a representative of Stop N Shop, which is already open on Sunday and supports the sales.
"Sunday is the second busiest shopping day of the week in today's dual-income households,'' Hibbard told members of the general law committee.
Overall, 14 states have adopted Sunday sales since 2002, including New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Kansas, he said. All of them have had increased sales of at least 4 percent to 10 percent, including a 10 percent increase in New York State. There was a 14 percent increase in sales in Montgomery County, Maryland.
"There is simply no reason why Connecticut would be any different,'' he said of the projected sales increases. "It's not back-of-the-envelope calculations.''
He added, "There are, in fact, new sales.''
Regarding problems with drinking, Hibbard said "there is no increase in underage drinking'' or drunken driving from allowing purchases on Sunday.
"There is no statistical difference,'' Hibbard said.
Prompted by state Rep. Kathleen Tallarita of Enfield, Hibbard said there is no reason to believe the statements by the Connecticut Package Stores Association that as many as 600 jobs could be lost by the legalization of Sunday sales.
"We are not aware of that,'' Hibbard responded. "There has not been evidence that Sunday sales [led to] stores closing or not.''
But Carroll J. Hughes, the executive director and the chief lobbyist for the package stores association, says that jobs will definitely be lost and the legislature should have more of a sense of urgency about the proposed change in the law.
"If we proposed a loss of 500 jobs in one location, people would be tripping over themselves to help them,'' Hughes told Capitol Watch.
Hughes represents 1,100 package stores, including many mom-and-pop operations that are barely profitable. He estimates that as many as 300 to 350 stores could close - with an average of 1.5 employees per store.
Hughes repeatedly notes that the Sunday sales issue has been falsely referred to as a blue law. It is a liquor law, rather than a blue law. The blue laws have been struck down as illegal.