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Act 294 now allows Arkansas residents to petition to put a measure on an Arkansas ballot that would allow liquor stores to be open on Sunday.

Voters able to decide state Sunday liquor sales

By: Taniah Tudor

Posted: 4/1/09

With the passage of Act 294 in early March, Arkansas residents are now able to decide if they want liquor stores in their communities to be open on Sundays.

Arkansas state law does not allow off-premise liquor sales on Sundays, which means selling liquor that will be taken off the purchase site by the customer, such as in liquor stores. Other retailers like restaurants can sell on-premise liquor if they have a license and a special Sunday permit, though there are exceptions.

City councils and county quorum courts had previously been able to add a referendum to a ballot that would allow residents to vote on the sale of liquor on Sundays, said Michael Langley, the director for Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division.

Act 294, however, puts the decision directly in the hands of residents, he said.

Now, if a resident can get 15 percent of the voters from the last gubernatorial election to sign a petition, Sunday liquor sales will be added to a ballot to be voted on by the rest of the population, Langley said.

"It's a very important decision for a community, so it will always be put to a vote," Langley said.

Six communities in Arkansas have liquor stores that already sell on Sundays, including Altus, Eureka Springs, Wiederkehr Village, Norfolk and two others, Langley said.

Before being signed by Gov. Mike Beebe March 3, Act 294 was Bill 121, proposed by Sen. Robert Thompson.

The bill was brought to Thompson by the ABC Commission, he said. It raised fees on various wholesale and retail sellers of alcohol, he said.

Additional fee increases in the bill will generate about $1.2 million in annual revenue for the operations of ABC enforcement, Thompson said.

Liquor permit fees had not been raised since Arkansas legalized alcohol in the 1930s, Langley said. The money will be used for more agents, better education for permit holders and law enforcement, and for new technology, Langley said.

The bill also extends the hours of operation allowed for the sale of alcohol on Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. to midnight, Langley said. For on-premise retailers, the requirement that a certain percentage of sales comes from food was removed, he said.

The provision allowing expanded hours for the sale of alcohol on Sunday was put in place to allow merchants more time to make up the revenue lost through the fee increases, Thompson said. The longer hours can be shortened by local ordinance, at the option of the local city council or quorum court, he said.

Liquor store owners in Fayetteville declined to comment on the changes.

"I don't blame them," said Svend Svendsen, owner of Alpine Liquor in Eureka Springs. "They don't want to hurt themselves."

Alpine Liquor has been selling on Sundays for about six years, Svendsen said. Svendsen thinks the store owners in Fayetteville are probably just waiting to see the community's reaction, he said. Also, opening on Sundays would infringe on many people's only day off, he said.

In Eureka, the ability to sell liquor on Sunday was voted in under an emergency clause that had been added during a vote on another issue, Svendsen said. Though he doesn't know why the city decided to add the clause, Svendsen thinks perhaps it was originally part of a plan to add a tax, though that never happened, he said.

"At first, honestly, we thought they should have asked the owners what they wanted to do," Svendsen said.

He and other store owners talked among themselves about the clause, and then started opening up on Sunday, he said.

In the beginning, it was upsetting to be open every day of the week, Svendsen said.

"It's our option; we don't have to, but you don't want your regular customer going somewhere else," Svendsen said.

The extra day of income did help all those who sell liquor, including restaurants that now no longer need to purchase a special permit, Svendsen said.

"I have to say it really did improve a lot of (liquor) business here in Eureka," he said.