Colorado: Colorado leaders cite lobbying pressure in alcohol in groceries bill
Governor unsure of what the bill does, as ballot initiative is still planned for grocery store sales
Source: The Denver Post
By Joey Bunch
05/12/2016
Gov. John Hickenlooper and top legislative leaders gave lobbyists credit Thursday for passing a bill to allow expanded alcohol sales in Colorado grocery stores.
Hickenlooper said he hasn’t decided whether he will veto it. He said he would talk to craft brewers and owners of small liquor stores before making a decision.
The bill passed the General Assembly on the last day of the four-month session, Wednesday, after it was crafted last Friday. It would allow major chains to phase in as many as 20 stores that sell liquor, wine and full-strength beer over the next 20 years.
“To be honest, I don’t understand it,” said Hickenlooper, the former brewpub owner who has previously said he supports keeping liquor laws as they are now, which limits nearly all wine, liquor and full-strength beer to liquor and specialty wine stores.
“I talked to several legislators this morning, and they couldn’t explain it to me, either. I’m not sure who does understand it yet, other than the small army of lobbyists who were able to push this through in the last five days.”
Opponents of expanded sales, with their own battalion of influence peddlers, claim expanded sales would shutter many of the state’s approximately 1,700 package stores and craft breweries if grocery stores and major retailers are allowed to sell more than the 3.2 percent beer.
The legislation was aimed at averting a ballot initiative in November that would allow grocers to add wine and full-strength beer. King Soopers and Safeway said this week they still intend to get on the ballot.
Earlier Thursday, House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst of Boulder said outside influences affected several pieces of legislation, citing the liquor bill.
“You have a situation where there’s an issue that comes up, and if you have a lot of money you just throw it at a lot of lobbyists,” she said. “And we saw that, quite frankly, with the whole liquor issue to the point I said, ‘If I’m going to get anything done in the rest of the session I can’t see you folks anymore.’ Nearly everybody in the lobbyist corps was hired to work on that issue by the time they were done.
“I don’t think that serves the state of Colorado very well.”
The bill passed the Colorado Senate on Monday, 34-1, with only Democratic Sen. Andy Kerr of Lakewood in opposition. It passed the House on Wednesday, 57-7. Hullinghorst voted in favor of it, even as Democratic House Speaker Pro Tempore Dan Pabon of Denver argued it was a rushed solution that would be bad for small business without averting the ballot initiative.