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Minutes for HB2482 - Committee on Commerce
Short Title
Expanding the hours of sale of alcoholic liquor by the drink.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 14, 2018
Chairperson Lynn opened the hearing on HB 2482 and requested Revisor Chuck Reimer to provide an overview of the bill.
Chairperson Lynn recognized Philip Bradley, representing Kansas Licensed Beverage Association, Kansas Viticulture and Farm Winery Association, Craft Brewers Guild of Kansas, Kansas Homebrewers Alliance, Artisan Distillers of Kansas, and Equal Entertainment Group, who provided testimony in support of the bill. He stated the bill would help citizens of Kansas in three ways. First, Kansans are enjoying dining out for brunch and need an earlier time to attend their services and activities. Second, with the popularity of international events in multiple time zones, there is a clamoring for watch-events in earlier hours. Third, there has long been a need to service those hard-working Kansans who work the late shifts. Mr. Bradley also requested to unify the hours of the Kansas Farm Wineries, now 6:00 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Saturday, to all seven days of the week. Adding Sunday would help with the increasing requests of Agritourism/Farm tours that are happening on the weekends. (Attachment 1)
Senator Bollier questioned why there was a four hour period from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. when drinking establishments were not allowed to serve alcoholic beverages. Mr. Bradley said he was not familiar with the historic reason as to why the limitation was set. He said the idea might have been to set a time at which all drinking establishments would close.
Chairperson Lynn recognized Jon Rolph, Sasnak Management, who provided testimony in support of the bill. Recently, the company chose to open a new concept, HomeGrown, which provides made-from-scratch breakfast, brunch, and lunch featuring locally sourced ingredients and products. Research has shown a common trend has been the introduction of bar drinks into the morning meal space. People around the country can enjoy a Bloody Mary or mimosa with their breakfast. He encouraged passage of the bill. (Attachment 2)
Chairperson Lynn asked Mr. Rolph whether he had found other states to have similar restrictions as Kansas on the hours allowed for serving alcohol. Mr. Rolph responded he had not.
Chairperson Lynn recognized Scott Schneider, Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association, who provided testimony in support of the bill. He said the bill would allow several different on-premise drinking scenarios to be solved. First, many manufacturing communities in Kansas have third shift workers and extending the serving hours to 6:00 a.m. would mirror the hours of a craft microbrewery tavern and allow these workers to enjoy similar after work benefits of other shift workers. Second, several Kansas breakfast restaurants have recently expanded their menus and would like to serve traditional morning drinks such as a mimosa or Bloody Mary. Mr. Schneider provided a chart showing the days and hours of operation for drinking establishments in Kansas. (Attachment 3) (Attachment 4)
Senator Suellentrop asked about the hours of operation requirement provisions for casinos for serving alcoholic beverages. Mr. Schneider responded casinos follow the drinking establishment hours of 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. for serving alcohol.
Chairperson Lynn said the interested parties are working on amendments to the bill.
There was no testimony submitted in opposition to the bill.
Written only testimony neutral to the bill was submitted by:
Whitney Damron, Kansas Grape Growers and Winemakers Association (Attachment 5)
Debbi Beavers, Director, Alcoholic Beverage Control Division (Attachment 6)
Chairperson Lynn closed the hearing on HB 2482. The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for February 15, 2018.
