Perdue Still Opposes To Sunday Sales Of Alcohol, Chastises House Committee

Insider Advantage Georgia

(3/14/08) Gov. Sonny Perdue told reporters Thursday he still opposes Sunday liquor sales - “I think we need a little relief on Sunday” - and chastised a House committee for amending a measure to allow Sunday sales onto a Gwinnett County bill.

“My feelings haven’t changed. I think Gwinnett County and I were hoping we could have a clean, standalone bill for their economic development project out there,” he said. “I haven’t supported this in the past. I’m very concerned that it puts Gwinnett County’s business in jeopardy if the House chooses to take that up,” he said.

The House Regulated Industries Committee on Wednesday used a bill allowing beer and wine sales in Gwinnett County’s new baseball stadium as the vehicle for allowing cities and counties that already allow the sales of beer, wine or liquor to ask voters in a referendum if they wish to allow Sunday sales in grocery and package stores.

Asked if he would veto the measure if it passes in that form, he said, “I don’t comment about that but my feelings on this have been very, very clear ... I think it’s the wrong time to do it and I think it’s wrong of the House committee to take Gwinnett’s bill that they’ve needed for a specific purpose and put this on there.”

Asked how he responded to critics who argued it was “hypocritical” to allow Sunday sales at a stadium but not across the state, he replied:

“What I say about governing by referendum is (that it) is somewhat hypocritical, itself. We live in a republic and the people of Georgia send us here to make decisions. I’m very concerned about a lot of the efforts I hear this year about, ‘Well, we’ll just let the people vote on it.’ I mean, do we want to let the people choose to allow prostitution and those kind of things? Where are we going to draw the line? I don’t think you can absolve the responsibility of legislating by referendum.”

Asked why he opposes Sunday sales, he said: “I think six days is plenty to gather up. You’ve got refrigerators. You’ve got different stores open. I think we need a little relief on Sunday.”

On another issue, he was asked whether he had decided what to do about a bill that speed through the Legislature last week that removes the authority of the insurance commissioner to take action in most auto insurance rate increase cases.