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OOPS: Mistake in Sunday AM Liquor sales law may leave some communities 'dry' on Sundays

A glitch in the new Sunday morning liquor sales law might be forcing Michigan communities to choose between opening the bars or going dry ALL DAY on Sundays.

When state lawmakers passed the Sunday morning liquor sales bill in the waning days of the legislative session, they made a small mistake. Lawmakers allowed communities to ban the sales, but the bill didn’t specify the time. 

So now,  if a community says it wants to ban liquor sales between 7am and noon on Sundays, the state Liquor Control Commission says the local government is banning all Sunday liquor sales.

Andrea Miller is with the Liquor Control Commission. She says the way the law is written  it gives the commission no choice. 

"Basically if they send in the resolution stating that they are banning the Sunday sales (of alcohol), they are banning Sunday sales completely."

Miller says the commission has heard from more than 30 communities confused about the new law and its implications.

The Liquor Control Commission plans to put a hold license applications by businesses in those communities until the legislature has time to fix the law next year.

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