Senator says rework of liquor sales bill unlikely

In a Peter Luke column explaining why Gov. Jennifer Granholm vetoed a bill allowing the sale of liquor on Sunday mornings — a bill she says she supports but for a provision on giving free samples — the sponsor of the bill says that despite the fact that the bill passed both chambers with a large enough margin to override a veto, it’s unlikely that the legislature will revisit the matter during the lame duck session after the election.

“The governor has lost a legitimate and equitable chance to generate revenue for the state without raising taxes,” said Lance Binoniemi, executive director the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association. “We hope that the Legislature will quickly consider a separate early Sunday sales bill when they return after the November elections. That proposal…erased an archaic law that’s been on the books since the days after Prohibition.”

Sen. Alan Sanborn, R-Richmond, who helped craft the package, said however that “we most likely will not revisit this issue.”

“That doesn’t bode well for the thousands of bars, restaurants, grocers, and winemakers across the state,” Sanborn said. “The governor does not understand the importance of empowering Michigan’s consumers and business men and women. It helps explain why the state is in the mess it’s in.”

This makes little sense. If the bill passed by such wide margins in both houses that they could override the governor’s veto, it should be quite easy to take up the matter again, either removing the language Granholm objects to or leaving it in, and get it passed.