Senate Joint Resolution 68, principally authored by Sen. The proposal is one of several possible state questions on wine in grocery stores aiming for the November ballot. If the Retail Liquor Association’s proposal survives the grocers’ challenge, the group will still have to gather about 127,000 signatures to get on the November statewide ballot. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has set oral presentations on the case before a referee of the court on April 14. We are just asking for a little capitalism to be involved,” he said.Īttorney and former Oklahoma Secretary of State Glenn Coffee is representing the Oklahoma Grocers Association in its legal challenge.Ĭoffee and Ron Edgmon, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Grocers Association, did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment. Kerr said allowing liquor store owners to sell their licenses to grocers will not take away ABLE’s regulatory authority. “When the gist of the petition is insufficient and misleading, the only appropriate remedy is to strike the measure from the ballot.” “A change of this magnitude simply cannot be omitted from the gist of the petition if it is to pass constitutional muster,” the grocers group said in court documents. The proposal would effectively give liquor store owners the same licensing power as the Oklahoma ABLE Commission, which now is solely responsible for administering alcohol licenses.
The proposed measure would also allow retail package store owners the ability to sell their wine license to a grocer. This will have the effect of raising taxes on the beer sold at grocery stores and convenience stores,” the grocers group said in its legal challenge. The proposal also does not disclose that “all beer, including 3.2 percent beer, will be taxed as alcohol. “Why not let the people of Oklahoma decide and give them a chance to vote? Why do they feel the need to take away the voice of the people?” Kerr said. The Retail Liquor Association’s proposal offers no notice that licenses for grocery stores to sell wine cannot be issued with “just less of half a mile from an existing package store,” the Grocers Association claims in its petition.īryan Kerr, president of the Oklahoma Retail Liquor Association, said he believes the group’s initiative petition is constitutional and not misleading to the public. Under the Retail Liquor Association’s proposed state question, there would be a required distance of at least 2,500 feet between two outlets to sell spirits or wine, but existing stores would be grandfathered in under the proposal. In court documents filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the grocers trade group says the language of the Retail Liquor Association’s initiative petition is “misleading” and “deceptive.” OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Grocers Association is fighting to keep the Oklahoma Retail Liquor Association’s initiative petition on wine in grocery stores off the November ballot.