Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma Launches Petition Drive

Oklahoma City, OK (MMD Newswire) August 11, 2016 — The Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma (RLAO) recently launched a petition drive to update Oklahoma’s liquor laws. In order to get it on this year’s ballot they will have to collect about 125,000 signatures by the end of August. Bryan Kerr, president of the RLAO said, “It won’t be easy to get that many signatures in such a short amount of time but we’ll have petitions at every liquor store that supports change throughout the state.”

If the RLAO is successful in collecting the necessary signatures, their measure would go on the ballot as “SQ 791″. A competing measure, SQ 792, was passed by the legislature in May and will appear on the ballot in November. SQ 791 would allow full-strength, refrigerated beer into liquor, convenience and grocery stores in July of 2017. SQ 792, a proposal backed by Walmart, other grocers and convenience stores, delays that until October of 2018. Kerr says there are some similarities in the two proposals but also some major differences. “SQ 792 has language hidden in it that reduces competition at the wholesale level which would likely result in less selection and higher prices on the majority of beer, wine and spirits sold in Oklahoma. It essentially sets up a monopoly for some very rich guys in the wholesale business and their friends who own out-of-state distributors. This would not be good for the consumer. Our proposal, SQ 791, encourages competition at all tiers of alcohol sales and keeps ownership local.”

Another major difference between the two is that SQ 791 mandates the age of anyone selling alcohol to be at least 18 with a 21-year-old present to supervise while SQ 792 places no minimum on the age of the seller and requires no supervision. SQ 791 also directs funding to the state agency tasked with preventing underage access, drunk driving and other alcohol-related problems as well as helping to fund the Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse. Kerr explains, “If we are going to increase access to stronger alcohol in 4000 or more new locations, we should offset that by giving state agencies the money they need to do their job. SQ 791 does that, SQ 792 does not.”

According to Kerr, “Oklahomans deserve reform to our alcohol laws that won’t raise prices and hurt public safety. That’s why we’re passionate about defeating SQ 792 and getting SQ 791 to a vote of the people.” The RLAO has set up a Web site to demonstrate the differences between the two measures at www.791vs792.com and is coordinating their petition drive through the Web site www.ColdBeerSooner.com.

The Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma was formed in 1982 and represents the many men and women who have invested their time and money into providing quality alcoholic beverages to their neighborhoods, cities and counties.

Press Contact: Bryan Kerr, RLAO president 1.405.255.8783 bryan@rlao.org

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