In committee Rep. Tom Dermody, R-LaPorte, added to his bill stringent new regulations for non-liquor stores that sell alcohol.
Those include requirements to section off alcohol to one area in the store and mandating that hard liquor be put behind a counter.
An amendment on the House floor Thursday would have allowed grocery stores to keep hard liquor out on the floor, while requiring that liquor to have safety caps and 24-hour video surveillance.
Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, says the amendment helps average Hoosier shoppers.
“I don’t think that by giving folks who do their grocery shopping on Sunday – the number one shopping day of the week – the opportunity to pick these items up and put them in their cart, even if they have a child, is going to cause the state to come to ruin,” Austin says.
But Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne, says he wants hard liquor behind a counter.
“I don’t appreciate, I don’t like the fact that kids can run up and down an aisle with liquor in it,” Carbaugh says.
The amendment failed by a 45-47 vote.
The bill will be up for passage by the full House next week.