MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Now that voters have approved doing away with minibottles, lawmakers are giving priority consideration to free-pour-enabling legislation that creates an alternative to South Carolina's liquor laws.

The enabling legislation, which was filed early and assigned to a committee, outlines the replacement system for bars and restaurants that choose to use free pour. It's similar to the one that passed the House and came close to passing the Senate last year. While it deals with a new taxing system, it does not address distribution, which still could cause controversy.

"This year we've got the advantage of that bill having gone through debate," said Sen. Wes Hayes, R-Rock Hill. He is co-sponsor of the bill with Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach.

Voters in November chose to have an option to the minibottles. South Carolina is the only state to use the tiny bottles commonly used on airplanes.

The enabling legislation replaces the 25-cent wholesale tax on minibottles with a 5 percent cocktail tax collected at the point of sale, along with regular sales tax and any additional local sales or hospitality taxes.

The cocktail tax is the amount that state economists estimate would be needed to replace the $25 million collected on minibottles.

The new bill does not include a provision approved by the Senate last spring that limited bars to the use of liter bottles, with a special tax being applied to them. The liter bottles could not be sold to anyone else.

Liquor store owners did not like the proposal to take liters off the market, saying that is one of their most popular sizes.

Hayes said most legislators will not go along with the liter-bottle requirement because it limits revenue for the state in the same way the minibottle tax does.

A cocktail tax collection can rise with inflation, he said.

"We've been working with all the parties to come up with a product that will stand the best chance of passage," Hayes said.

The bill does not address distribution. Hayes said he thinks a key element is allowing the liquor stores to deliver. Currently, bar owners have to travel to one of the 58 stores licensed to sell minibottles to pick up their supplies.

Picking up supplies would not be as easy to do with big bottles, and most other states allow liquor stores to deliver to bars, Hayes said.

Distribution could be a controversial issue, said Tom Sponseller, president of the South Carolina Hospitality Association. The original bill allowed owners to buy from any liquor store, but that clashes with federal law.

"We would like to make sure that whatever the system is that it is the most competitive," he said.

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Information from: The Sun News, http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/