Today has been rife with rumors and misleading updates regarding the issue of wine sales in retail food stores. We’re here to set the record straight. Opponents of wine in retail food stores will do whatever it takes to kill any bill that might remove liquor stores’ monopoly on wine sales. In this case, they are anxious to lead the public to believe that our campaign is giving up. That is not the case.
While our opponents are correct to say that no companion bill has been filed with Rep. Jon Lundberg’s HB 2874, there is already a bill that provides a vehicle to achieve our goal. Sen. Bill Ketron and Rep. Lundberg filed legislation last year (SB 318/HB 560) that is a “referendum bill.” This legislation, which is alive and well, would allow individual municipalities to decide whether wine should be sold in retail food stores.
Although we face a battle as we fight for votes from elected officials with strong ties to the liquor lobby, please do not listen to misleading news from the opposition. If anything, raise your voices even louder and continue to contact members of the Senate State and Local Government Committee the House State and Local Government Committee and demand that they listen to the 69 percent of Tennesseans who support wine in retail food stores.
Ultimately, this is not over. We will continue to fight until Tennesseans get what they want – the ability to buy wine where they shop for food.
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