RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina House committee is looking to shake up the state's ABC laws with a number of suggested changes.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control House Standing Committee met on Tuesday, Sept. 5, and introduced several proposed changes. Some of these changes impact the sale of liquor on Sundays, happy hour deals and beer sales at community college sporting events. Each proposed bill passed the committee unanimously.
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Currently, ABC stores are prohibited from being open and selling alcohol on Sundays. A new change proposed would allow local ABC boards to remove this ban. Liquor stores are also currently not allowed to be open on New Year's Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day. The proposed bill calls for the removal of this ban.
Happy hours, or a period when alcoholic beverages are sold at a lower price, are also currently banned in North Carolina. Another section of the proposed bill would lift this restriction and allow businesses to set times for happy hour specials.
A separate part of the bill introduced in the committee on Tuesday suggests that beer and wine be allowed to be sold at community college sporting events. Beer and wine are already allowed to be sold at university sporting events, so this change would expand alcohol availability at games in the state.
There is no set timetable for when these potential changes will come into play. The bill will head to two more committees, the finance and rules committees before it gets a chance to be introduced in the House or Senate. It will need to pass through there and then be signed by the governor to be made law.
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