Alabama continues to relax its traditionally strict alcohol control laws in the wake of COVID-19. The state may soon have another law that expands access to access to alcoholic beverages.
House Bill 437 is about to be sent to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk for her signature. It will allow wine to be delivered from out-of-state by postal services such as FedEx or UPS.
The other law is Senate Bill 126, which allows small businesses within Alabama to deliver beer, wine and spirits to private homes using a third party such as Shipt or GrubHub. It was signed by Ivey April 12.
Daniel Dye is the Public Information Specialist for Alabama’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. He said the Board is busy preparing rules and regulations before Bill 126 goes into effect Oct. 1.
“We have a lot of work to do between now and then. You can pretty much say that we’re starting the first quarter of the game and just getting into it,” he said. “So it’ll be fast-tracked, and we’ll be down the road very quick with this.”
Dye also said the timing between COVID-19 and the need to help businesses is what spurred the creation of these bills.
“I think COVID-19 was what really opened the eyes of a lot of people to realize that having delivery service to include alcoholic beverages was key to helping businesses move into 2021,” he said.
Bill 126 requires that the delivery service must check the recipient’s ID. It also limits the quantity of beverage that can be delivered in a day. Recipients can be denied their delivery if intoxicated.
