CHARLESTON, W.Va. — House Speaker Tim Armstead (R-Kanawha, 40) says the so-called “brunch bill,” moving up Sunday alcohol sale times at restaurants, private clubs, distilleries, mini-distilleries and wineries from 1 p.m. to 10 a.m., will likely not be one of the priority bills in the House of Delegates during the closing weeks of the 2016 Regular Legislative Session.
“We have things that I think will do much more to move our state forward,” Armstead during an appearance on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline” which originated from the State Capitol on Day 42 of the 2016 Regular Legislative Session.
“We’re less than three weeks from the end of the session. That is not going to be a top priority if it’s going to take hours and hours of debate on the floor,” he said.
This year’s session closes on Saturday, March 12.
On Feb. 16, the state Senate unanimously approved SB 298 allowing for the time change and sent it on the House.
It’s currently awaiting action in the House Roads and Transportation Committee. A second reference could also take it through the House Judiciary Committee.
“I’m looking at this in the context of a whole bunch of other issues and I’m not the only one who thinks that bill is not the right direction to go it,” Armstead said.
“The last time we brought that up, there was about three hours of debate on the floor and all kinds of amendments and that kind of thing. Is this one of the top priorities? I don’t think so.”
Armstead was not completely ruling out working the bill in “in some way,” possibly with local county options for such earlier Sunday alcohol sales at store levels only, not off premises. “I’m looking at that,” he said.
In 2014, a similar proposal for earlier Sunday alcohol sales, supported by the travel and tourism industry as this bill is, stalled when an amendment moving back bar closing times in West Virginia from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m. was added to it.