Senate Bill 55

Chairman: Roger Williams

Committee:Regulated Industries

House Sponsor: Allen Peake

Senate Sponsor: Renee Unterman

Chairman Williams’ Opinion of the Legislation:

This legislation allows restaurant customers to take out for off-premises consumption a properly resealed bottle of wine that was purchased with a meal and partially consumed. The following conditions apply: (1) Only one resealed bottle per customer is allowed to be carried out; (2) The bottle must be securely resealed by a restaurant employee and placed in a bag or a container with a security seal; (3) The customer may then place the bottle in the locked glove department, trunk or the area behind the last seat of one’s car if the vehicle does not have a trunk. This bill further provides that such a resealed bottle of wine as described above will not be considered an open alcoholic beverage for purposes of the prohibition against possessing an open container of alcohol in the passenger area of motor vehicle.

Allowing restaurant diners to take the securely sealed partially consumed bottle of wine home encourages moderation and would prevent many incidents of drunk driving, since diners will not feel compelled to finish off a bottle of pricey wine in order to avoid losing money on the purchased bottle. They simply will be able to take the wine with them and enjoy it the next day or even later that night at home. Further, diners may be more likely to try wines offered only by the bottle since only a handful of wines are available by the glass. This may benefit both the licensed restaurants and local wineries that may do business with their regional restaurants.

This bill comes to the House Floor under the Modified Structured Rule.