Will This Summer Pave The Way For Reform Of Alcohol Laws?

INDIANAPOLIS -- Lawmakers will take a comprehensive look at Indiana’s alcohol laws this summer and fall.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, half-jokingly says a study committee’s look at Indiana alcohol laws this year may be more controversial than the ongoing LGBT rights debate.

He says the legislature has debated numerous bills the last several years on different parts of the alcohol system, including legalizing Sunday sales and ending the ban on cold beer sales, and it’s time to take a wholesale look at the code.

“It’s old. Perhaps it’s perfect, perhaps it’s not. So it will be…there are those who are thrilled that we’re studying it, those who are not,” says Bosma.

Rep. Phil GiaQuinta, D-Ft. Wayne, co-authored a resolution calling for the study committee. He says he doesn’t think the committee will recommend a specific piece of legislation.

“But that doesn’t mean that we can’t get have some sort of framework," GiaQuinta says,"at least, on the direction we want to go.”

GiaQuinta says one possibility could be putting Indiana’s alcohol laws in the hands of a separate commission, instead of the legislature.