MA: Amendment of the Mideast Time of Alcohol Sales Statute (Failed)

[ZuWo]

This bill does away with the distinction between alcohol sales on the retailer's premises and off the retailer's premises. Frankly, I don't think that a ban on alcohol sales off the retailer's premises between midnight and six o'clock in the morning makes a lot of sense. While the reason why this regulation is in place may be the prevention of alcoholism, I doubt that the statute is very effective in this respect. Thus, we can as well allow the sale of alcohol 24 hours a day - it makes things a lot easier for retailers that sell alcohol.

[ZuWo]

JCL, I understand where you are coming from. A ban on Sunday sales (sales in general, not only the sale of alcohol) is not as "theocratic" as it may seem. In fact, Sunday sales are forbidden or subject to heavy restrictions in different parts of the world (my home country included), mainly due to a mix of traditional reasons and an attempt to protect the rights of the workers. With that in mind, I was faced with three options when introducing a bill which deals with the time of alcohol sales:

a) leave things as they are

b) ban Sunday shopping across the board

c) seek to treat alcohol in the same way as other things you can buy

I decided to pick the third option because option a) seemed inconsistent to me (is there really a good reason to make an exception for the sale of alcohol?) and option b) was not realistic because Sunday shopping is very widespread in the culture where most of you guys come from. Indeed, I came to the conclusion that c), this very proposal, makes most sense.

[ZuWo]

For the record, if the "Amendment of the Mideast Time of Alcohol Sales Statute" fails, I will refer it to the People by way of Proposition (see Mideast Constitution, Article III, Section 2; Clause 5 and Section 3; Clause 1)

[ZuWo]

For the record, the people shall have the last say on this since I will bring this bill to a vote by means of a proposition. This is in accordance with Artcile III, Section 3 of the Mideast Constitution:

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