By Lily Levin
Members of the S.C. House may consider loosening two old-time Sunday alcohol restrictions as early as next week. The bills — House Bill 4231, which would permit liquor sales on Sundays, and House Bill 4364, which would allow alcohol delivery and pickup from grocery stores — on Wednesday passed the House Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support.
Both bills now are on the uncontested House calendar. Advocates are optimistic both will advance into the Senate chamber.
S.C. Rep. Beth Bernstein, a Richland County Democrat who is cosponsoring both bills, said the liquor sales bill, dubbed the “Sunday bill,” is primarily about helping businesses. Scott Newitt, co-owner of Firefly Distillery in North Charleston, added the revenue from an extra day of sales would be welcome.
“I’m very interested in opening up, selling bottles on Sundays because of tourism,” and the visitors it brings, he said. But there’s a benefit for state government, too: “If we were open on Sundays, we would generate another $50,000 to $55,000 a year in taxes,” he noted.
Though the Sunday sales bill would allow micro-distilleries to sell spirits on Sundays, it wouldn’t automatically get rid of so-called “blue laws” — the general name for Sunday regulations of certain commercial activities, such as sale of liquor in bottles.
Instead, the bill would allow a referendum, meaning that municipalities could put it up to a vote. Bernstein said such a tool would allow policy flexibility, especially if “some of the more conservative areas of the state are against having liquor sales on Sunday, then they don’t have to do it.”
Out-of-state factors
Repealing blue laws has been a topic for some South Carolina legislators since 2021, when a bill to permit Sunday sales was first proposed. And in recent years, the state has been no stranger to removing alcohol restrictions. Throughout the past decade, the Palmetto State has seen the expansion of mandated hours of operation for breweries and permitted on-site tastings at distilleries, among other things. And it was not that long ago — 2006 — that the state dumped rules requiring bars to use mini bottles to serve liquor to customers
The majority of the public supports loosening alcohol restrictions, according to polling in 2021.
But there’s another element that might be swaying the legislators: out-of-state pressure.
As of 2023, South Carolina was one of only five U.S. states to prohibit hard liquor sales on Sundays. Georgia recently lifted its Sunday ban, which might have consequences for its neighbor.
For example, Newitt added, “We didn’t have a lottery until North Carolina and Georgia and Tennessee had lotteries,” and officials realized how much money was being lost — money spent right across the state lines.
Though some conservatives oppose the measure for religious reasons, a major voice against the bill comes from mom-and-pop liquor stores.
Some in the spirit industry said this might be because liquor shop owners are worried they’d be forced to open on Sundays to remain competitive within the market, even though these stores wouldn’t benefit too heavily from a seventh day.
Curbside pickup and delivery
H.B. 4364, the other bill on the House calendar, allows curbside delivery of beer and wine from the grocery store, a measure Bernstein said Gov. Henry McMaster authorized during the height of Covid.
“It just makes sense that you would continue to have [the same mandate]” today, she added. Bernstein told the City Paper the bill was held up in committee due to some concerns about it increasing “DUIs and things of that nature,” but that there’s no “real evidence to support that assertion.”
According to Krista Hinson, executive director of the S.C. Retail Association, a group strongly in favor of H.B.4364, the bill “would not change when or where alcohol can be sold nor would it change who can purchase it. The bill includes age verification and training requirements to ensure purchases are legal, no matter which method a customer chooses to use to shop.”
Bernstein added that in addition to supporting the proposal for the sake of continuity, it’s an important accessibility measure.
“A lot of people use curbside delivery. It really helps the busy working mom or family who uses that service frequently,” she said, highlighting the inconvenience of having to take, say, the kids into the supermarket only to buy alcohol.
But though this legislation has bipartisan backing, Hinton said she isn’t certain it will pass in the state Senate.
“Senate rules make it easier for a single senator to block a bill,” Hinson said, “so additional procedural moves could be required to get to debate in that chamber, even with strong support.”
Lily Levin recently was a staff writer with the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.