Senate Votes to Ban Drive-Through Liquor — Measure Also Cuts off Tap on Free Samples

By HOWARD FISCHER
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

The days of drive-through liquor stores may be numbered.Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, said there is evidence that drive-through windows encourage drinking and driving. She said recent coverage by a Phoenix TV station showed people purchasing bottles of beer and opening them the moment they drove away from the window.

The Senate voted 15-11 Thursday to ban drive-through windows at new liquor stores and grocers. Shops that already have the windows can keep them. But if the store is sold, the window must remain closed.

Lawmakers rebuffed efforts by industry lobbyists to let customers get free samples of beer and wine at their local grocery and liquor stores.

And they also rejected efforts by Tucson to craft an exemption to state laws that prohibits bars, night clubs and restaurants that serve liquor within 300 feet of a school.

The moves are part of a series of changes to state liquor laws given preliminary approval by senators. These range from technical requirements for licenses to changes in penalties for those who break the law.

Most drew no discussion. But Sen. Jorge Garcia, D-Tucson, said if lawmakers intend to tinker with the laws they should do something that really helps neighborhoods.

Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, said there is evidence that drive-through windows encourage drinking and driving. She said recent coverage by a Phoenix TV station showed people purchasing bottles of beer and opening them the moment they drove away from the window.

Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley, said that is irrelevant — people can open alcohol as soon as they buy it whether they walk in or drivethrough. “For that matter, I think we should get rid of all the windows at the fast-food restaurant so that fat people have to get out of the car and walk up and get it,’ she said.

The now-amended version of HB2467 says that the legal right to sell alcoholic beverages through a drive-through window ends when the liquor license is sold. The only exception is if the license is being transferred to a spouse, a former spouse, a parent, a child or other near relative.

The provision allowing sampling in stores was sought mainly by manufacturers and distributors of higher-priced beverages.

Leff said people are not going to shell out $60 for a bottle of wine they may not like. She said the legislation would limit the samples to only one ounce of wine or three ounces of beer.

But Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-Scottsdale, said even that can be too much.

“We have a world full of alcoholics out there that struggle every day to not take a drink,” she said. “I would hate to think that the opportunity would be so freely pressed upon people to take a sample.’