Ohio lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow restaurants and bars to sell liquor on Sundays without having to obtain a special permit.
If you go out on Sunday, you might not be able to get a Bloody Mary or a glass of wine with your meal if the restaurant doesn’t have a special license. Right now, only businesses that have asked voters for those permits can sell alcohol on Sundays.
Tod Bowen with the Ohio Restaurant Association says his organization supports the bill to wipe out the need for that license. He says Sunday alcohol sales will help businesses hit hard by coronavirus.
"This legislation is an important and necessary step as our economy reopens," Bowen says.
But Robert Young, whose company helps businesses obtain those permits, says the bill would take local control away from communities that reject those ballot initiatives.
“In some areas, they just don’t want it and have rejected it again and again," says Young.
The bill would also expand opportunities for alcohol sales at airports.
Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau
