Malloy package store bill gets mixed reviews

HARTFORD – Package store owners are divided over Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal to extend hours of sale and eliminate the state’s price-support program for alcoholic beverages.

Larger stores favored the governor during a public hearing Monday before the tax-writing Finance Committee. But smaller store owners said that without so-called minimum pricing, big stores can underprice them, threatening their livelihoods. The current 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. hours are grueling, they said.

“If you can’t buy alcohol in 13 hours in a day, you have a problem,” said Larry Cass, owner of the Glen-Ro Spirit Shoppe in Monroe.

Benjamin Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said that extending hours to 10 p.m. during the week and 8 p.m. on Sundays could generate $500,000 in new revenue for the state, while eliminating minimum pricing could increase sales and give the state $2.8 million more in taxes revenue.

Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, ranking member of the Finance Committee, said he is worried about the smaller stores. “Those numbers are not impressive to me,” Frantz told Barnes, who is Malloy’s budget chief.

“The governor has proposed changes because they are pro-consumer and favor residents of Connecticut who buy alcoholic beverages,” Barnes replied, noting that the extended hours would only be an option for store owners. “We feel the role of the state in the hours that stores should operate, should be minimal. Connecticut residents pay significantly more for liquor than they would otherwise, for a lack of competitive prices.”

“All of us are concerned about the mom-and-pop stores,” said Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, a committee member.

Edward Cooper, vice president for public affairs at Total Wine & More, a national chain with stores in Norwalk and Manchester, spoke in favor of the governor’s proposal. He said Connecticut is the only state in the country with minimum pricing, which puts the state at “a competitive disadvantage” with neighboring states that can charge $5 to $7 less per bottle of spirits.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States also supports the proposed legislation.

“Governor Malloy’s proposal to repeal the state’s costly minimum bottle price requirement would provide greater marketplace competition, lower prices for consumers and significant additional revenue for the state treasury,” said Jay Hibbard, vice president of the council. “It is good for the state and consumers – period.”

But Cass said that under minimum pricing, the 1.75 liter bottle he sells for $59.91, yields him an 8-cent profit, but he loses money on credit card sales.

The Finance Committee has a May 1 deadline to craft compromise tax legislation to support the next two-year budget.

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