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SALT LAKE CITY – A bill to eliminate 3.2 beers of beer for heavier breweries in grocery stores and convenience stores was passed by a critical vote in the Senate on Monday.
After many debates, the Senate of Utah State voted 21 to 8 to pass Bill 132, which would increase from 3.2 to 4.8 percent of the total. Alcohol sold in grocery stores and convenience stores (6% alcohol by volume).
Other states have abandoned 3.2 beer, leaving Utah the only state with beer at the lower end. The invoice is executed while the product disappears from the shelves of the stores.
"Many manufacturers are taking the products off the market, they are actually reducing the 3.2 products because they have to be specially manufactured or diluted to the point where they produce 3.2," said Senator Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton.
Mega-brewers like Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors have already begun to remove products from store shelves. The FOX 13 report was first published in 2017.
Other members of the Senate said that it was not an alcohol bill, but a business project.
"If we do not enact this legislation, voters will have a much smaller choice," said Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne of D-West Valley City.
Senator Don Ipson, R-St. George has called for support for Utah's 3,000 grocery stores and convenience stores.
"I think it's a commercial bill, I think it's not the same moral element that some might suggest," said Sen. Scott Sandall of R-Tremonton .
But the bill faced opposition. Local breweries opposed the bill, arguing that it favored big breweries in the race for tablets. Some have asked the legislature to further increase the blood alcohol level. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has a powerful influence on Capitol Hill, Utah, has declared itself opposed to the bill.
Senator Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, warned that the bill would increase public safety concerns.
"I'm voting no on this bill, and I think the next step will be to put wine in grocery stores," he said. "You say," Oh no, that will not happen. "Mark my words: it'll happen."
The bill could result in up to $ 23 million in financial losses in state-run liquor stores, which could result in losses to the state's school meals fund and public safety. However, Senator Stevenson argued that the liquor control department of Utah could offset the loss of heavier beers through an expanded selection of wines and spirits.
"We have the lowest rates of impaired driving in the country, and the rates of heavy drinking are the lowest, and I would argue that the responsible drinkers at 3.2 will be responsible drinkers at 4, 8%, "he said.
The bill is the subject of another vote in the Senate before moving to the House.
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