Critics challenge spirit of Kansas retail liquor store reform bill

Topeka liquor store owner Aaron Rosenow spared no venom Tuesday in denouncing the effort by large corporations to secure a retail foothold in the sale of wine and strong beer.

Rosenow, who owns Vern’s Retail Liquor, said he invested in construction of a new store building based on longstanding Kansas laws and regulations. He said the investment wasn’t made with anticipation the Kansas Legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback would approve a bill sought by Kroger, Walmart and other big-box stores that would enable these merchandising titans to market intoxicating products beyond 3.2 percent beer.

“I spent time in combat zones that made more sense than what this bill would do to the state that I grew up in and love,” said Rosenow, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. “There is nothing wrong with the current laws regulating the sale of alcohol. The only problem is that corporate retailers — all of whom are not based in Kansas — are not getting profits from sales of alcoholic liquor.

“To change that, they use words like free enterprise, illegal monopoly and customer inconvenience. What they don’t say is that this bill could raise your taxes through unemployment, lost tax revenue, more government spending to regulate more stores and fewer customer choices.”

He was among more than a dozen individuals and business groups submitting testimony in opposition to House Bill 2282. On Monday, proponents of the bill addressed the House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee. The panel didn’t take action on the bill.

Under the bill advocated by Uncork Kansas, consumers would be able to purchase beer and wine at grocery and convenience stores in Kansas as of July 1, 2018. Liquor stores would be permitted to sell beer, wine, spirits and nonalcoholic products. Unlike previous versions of retail liquor reform bills, there is no cap on the number of retailers or requirements that a new entrant buy a license from a retailer in the same county.

“Current liquor laws restrict the freedoms of Kansas consumers,” said David Dillon, Uncork Kansas chairman and former chairman of Kroger. “Adults should have the ability to choose when and where they make purchases—and businesses operating in a free market should be afforded the right to meet customer demand.”

Frances Wood, legislative director of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Topeka, said she would prefer to bottle and shelve the liquor reform bills. The latest incarnation blocking grocery and convenience stores from selling hard liquor is merely a steppingstone to operation of full-blown liquor stores in the future, she said.

“More outlets mean more consumption. Making strong beer and wine available at the grocery stores would have that effect,” Wood said. “We do not need more consumption of alcohol.”

The placement of wine and high-strength beer in hundreds of convenience and grocery stores will serve as a powerful temptation for alcoholics who can’t avoid these businesses, said Donna Lippoldt, director of the Culture Shield Network in Wichita.

Michael Dick, co-owner of DJ Liquor in Hutchinson, said the bill would allow minors — rather than people at least 21 — to sell adult beverages in stores. Local charities that depend on support from local liquor stores would suffer after big-box retailers took over the marketplace, he said.

“I know they say they want it for the convenience of their customers, but I say it is greed,” Dick said.

Whitney Damron, a lobbyist representing the Kansas Association for Responsible Liquor Laws, said many of the 750 liquor retailers in Kansas wouldn’t survive the consolidation contemplated by Uncork Kansas.

“There is nothing in the public record that would support the contention that changing our state’s structure for selling these adult-only products would increase jobs, sales or state revenues,” Damron said. “All information available suggests the contrary.”

Debbi Beavers, director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control division in the Kansas Department of Revenue, said she was officially neutral on the bill. However, she pointed to a provision diminishing restrictions on ownership in corporations with a retailer’s license. Under current law, all owners with more than 5 percent stake must meet licensing requirements. The bill would raise that threshold to 15 percent.

“In theory,” Beavers said, “seven or more convicted felons or previously revoked persons could team up and own a corporation and none would have to meet the qualifications.”