Senate approves minibottle bill

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Plans to scrap the state's requirement that bars and restaurants use only minibottles won final approval Wednesday in the Senate.

But the Senate version of the bill would require that retailers pull 1-liter bottles of liquor from store shelves and allow them to be used only in bars and restaurants. Consumers who like minibottles also would be able to buy them at retail stores. That's not allowed under the current law.

Minibottles have been a fixture since 1974 and South Carolina is the only state now that requires their use.

"It means that South Carolina is going to join the other 49 states with having the option for free pour," said Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach. Elliott has tried to get the law changed for the past four years. "We believe it will help us tremendously with tourism and at resorts along the coast," he said.

Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, said that requirement and a $7.35 tax on liter bottles is the only way the state could be assured it wouldn't lose money from the change.

Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg, said that change would limit consumer choice. It's like leaving consumers with the choice of buying a can of beer or a case, but no six packs on store shelves, Ritchie said.

There are plenty of choices remaining, Leventis said. And while consumers are loyal to brands and types of alcohol, "I know few people who are committed to a container size," he said.

Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, asked why it wouldn't make more sense to just tax bars and restaurants by the amount of liquor in the bottles they buy to pour drinks from.

But Leventis said that would be too difficult for businesses and regulators to monitor.

Leventis had held the bill up for nearly 20 hours through off-and-on filibustering during the past three weeks. The Senate quickly adopted the liter-bottle compromise he offered Wednesday.

That compromise also says taxes on the liquor bought for sale in bars and restaurants would rise with inflation.

Legislators will have to work out differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill before sending it to the governor. It's unclear whether the liter bottle requirement will survive the conference committee negotiations.

Even if it doesn't, Leventis said, the conference committee will have to come up with some way of making sure the state's tax collections don't change or he may have to resume the filibuster.

Proponents want free-poured liquor, "they don't want to lose tax collections," Leventis said.

The bill still faces major opposition, particularly from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, which supports keeping the law just the way it is.

"The current system works fine," said David Wojnar, who oversees state legislative work for the trade group.

"We do not support taking the liter bottle out of circulation," Wojnar said. "What's happening now is wreaking havoc on the industry," he said.

Wojnar still hopes to defeat the change and put together something that is "palatable to the industry."

The Senate also gave final approval to a second minibottle bill that puts the whole issue before voters in November.

Wojnar is not sure if his group would try to defeat the change at the ballot box.

Gov. Mark Sanford is waiting to see what is approved, Sanford spokesman Will Folks said. The governor has said previously it "doesn't make sense for South Carolina to be the only state in the country that uses minibottles," Folks said.

If the law changes, bars and restaurants will deal with it. Moving away from minibottles will make inventorying liquor more difficult, said Scott Fleming, who runs Group Therapy, a Columbia bar.

"But it would be a plus for the customer, " Fleming said. They'd be able to buy a wider variety of multi-liquor mixed drinks cheaper than they can now. That could increase sales, he said.

Putting minibottles in retail shelves for consumers to buy "is out of the question," said Karen Schoolmeester, who runs the Rust Whiskey Bar and Grill in Columbia.

Before minibottles became the law, people would carry liquor in brown-bags into bars and restaurants to pour their own drinks. If minibottles were sold in liquor stores, "I can guarantee you that customers will be coming in with their own minibottles," Schoolmeester said. "There will be minibottles in everybody's car. ... That's a disaster just waiting to happen," she said.