Scott PowersFebruary 18, 2021
4min1285
Concerns exist about to-go spirits, but for the most part, lawmakers are on board.
Tag: hard liquor
Scott PowersFebruary 18, 2021
Jim RosicaDecember 29, 2018
4min898
State regulators are appealing an administrative law judge’s ruling that could allow retailers to sell hard liquor in their main stores, instead of in separate stores as they do now. The Department of Business Professional Regulation (DBPR), which oversees booze sales through its Division of Alcoholic Beverages And Tobacco (ABT), on Friday filed a notice of appeal to […]
Jim RosicaDecember 1, 20187min573
An administrative law judge has sent a wrecking ball through the wall that separates whiskey from Wheaties in Florida. Judge John D.C. Newton II‘s final order, filed Friday, opens the possibility for big-box retailers to sell hard liquor in their main stores, instead of in separate stores as they do now. The order also confirmed that Walmart “seeks to obtain, […]
Jim RosicaSeptember 25, 2018
7min874
Target and Walmart are heading to court to get an administrative law judge to give them what Gov. Rick Scott wouldn’t: The ability to sell whiskey and Wheaties in the same store. The big-box retailers late Monday filed an administrative challenge against the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages And Tobacco (ABT). At issue: The state’s obscure, 24-year-old “Restaurant Rule,” which restricts […]
Jim RosicaMay 25, 2017
8min502
Saying it could hurt job creation, Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a contentious bill that would have removed the ‘wall of separation’ between hard liquor and other goods. Scott filed his veto letter of the measure (SB 106) on Wednesday night, his deadline to act on the bill. It’s the first veto of a bill from the 2017 […]
Jim RosicaMay 21, 20174min402
Costco now is joining Wal-Mart, Target and others in one last push to get Gov. Rick Scott to sign a bill to remove the ‘wall of separation’ between hard liquor and other goods. Their Floridians For Fair Business Practices coalition on Friday released a tranche of letters sent to Scott encouraging him to OK the legislation (SB […]
Jim RosicaMay 3, 20175min467
The Governor’s Office now has received nearly 500 emails asking Gov. Rick Scott to veto a contentious bill that allows retailers to sell distilled spirits in the same store as other goods. A tally shows 491 emails urging a veto and none in support of the measure (SB 106), according to Scott spokesman McKinley Lewis. The bill passed […]
Jim RosicaApril 27, 2017
4min341
The reaction to the Florida Legislature’s repeal of the state’s “booze wall” law continued long after Wednesday’s vote. The House, on a close vote of 58-57, passed the Senate’s bill (SB 106) to allow retailers to remove the ‘wall of separation’ between hard liquor and other goods. (Full story here.) The legislation now heads to Gov. Rick Scott. If signed […]
Jim RosicaApril 26, 20177min493
The Florida Legislature has voted to tear down the booze ‘wall.’ The House, on a by-a-nose vote of 58-57, Wednesday passed the Senate’s bill (SB 106) to allow retailers, at least those who choose to do so, to remove the ‘wall of separation’ between hard liquor and other goods. The legislation now heads to Gov. Rick Scott. […]
Jim RosicaApril 25, 2017
5min344
A bill to allow retailers to sell hard liquor in the same store as other goods is one step closer to passing the Legislature. On Tuesday, the House decided to take up the Senate’s version of the “whiskey & Wheaties” legislation (SB 106) out of a “spirit of compromise,” said bill sponsor Bryan Avila, a Hialeah Republican. After two and […]