Sunday-Booze 'Brunch Bill' On November Ballot

ATLANTA, GA — Atlanta voters will get a chance in November to decide if cocktail hour should start earlier on Sundays.

The Atlanta City Council voted 14-0 on Monday to place the so-called "brunch bill" on the general election ballot for when voters go to the polls to decide such races as the gubernatorial contest between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp.

Approved by the legislature this year and signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal in May, the brunch bill lets locals decide whether restaurants may start serving alcohol at 11 a.m. on Sundays. Under current law, they may not begin slinging booze until 12:30 p.m.

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"It is an honor to sponsor a piece of legislation that places more decision-making authority in the hands of the people by allowing them to ultimately decide ...," state Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, the bill's sponsor, said when Deal signed it. "The goal of this legislation is to increase profits for small and large businesses throughout the state."

Restaurant owners had complained that Georgia's alcohol law hurt their bottom line by outlawing liquor sales during peak brunch hours on Sundays.

In Georgia, all sale of alcohol on Sundays was illegal until 2011. That year, after the legislature approved it, every county in the state voted whether to allow Sunday sales. In all, 105 of Georgia's 159 counties voted to allow it.

The legislation doesn't open up Sunday-morning boozing for everybody, though. Only establishments that make at least 50 percent of their money from food will be allowed to start selling booze at 11 a.m.

Read the full language of Senate Bill 17 here.

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