The Brunch Bill is scheduled to go before the Senate today. SB 17 would allow restaurants to serve alcohol, and retail stores to sell beer and wine on Sundays beginning at 11 a.m. rather than 12:30 p.m.
The bill, sponsored by Republican State Senator Renee Unterman of Buford, passed the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee by a 6-4 vote in late January.
Senate Bill 17 must pass both the state House and Senate before being put in the hands of Georgia voters on a ballot.
According to the proposed bill, the ballot would read:
“The ballot shall have written or printed thereon the words:
Shall the governing authority of (name of municipality or county) be
authorized to permit and regulate Sunday sales of distilled spirits or
alcoholic beverages for beverage purposes by the drink?”
( ) YES
( ) NO
Initially, Unterman’s bill had only addressed expanding alcohol sales to restaurants, but retail stores were later added to the bill.
SB 17 was introduced last year but failed to make the cut on the state legislature’s ‘Crossover Day’.
The last brunch bill (HB 535) to go to the Georgia General Assembly was in 2016. It quickly passed the House but was stopped by the Senate Rules Committee. The bill died before hitting the floor of the Senate.
