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Well, ask no more. Thanks to the state budget that was just passed Tuesday (more than three months late, but never mind about that), grocers and liquor stores are allowed to give free shots to their customers.
It puts a whole different perspective on “free sample day” at the local market.
The proposal started out as a separate bill introduced by Rep. Samantha Kerkman, a Republican from near Burlington, Wis.
Her original bill would have allowed free liquor sampling for grocery stores, liquor stores and wineries. She introduced it to help a winery in her district. But the proposal never went anywhere — until an unidentified legislator added it to the budget. Interestingly, the final proposal didn’t include wineries. No legislator has admitted to having the proposal put in the state budget.
Legislators have been filling the budget with non-fiscal issues for a long time. That’s because the budget has to pass, unlike the average bill.
The bad thing is that proposals get through without any discussion or debate — and, in this case, without the public even knowing that the proposal exists until it gets passed into law.
Predictably, there is controversy about the liquor sampling issue. A representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “The message we’re sending is it’s OK to go ahead and consume alcohol and go out and get in a car.”
She makes it sound like no one has ever done that before.
A representative from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said there already is wine and beer sampling, and this proposal just puts liquor on the same footing. About half of the states allow liquor sampling.
It’s a minor issue. Retailers can only offer one-and-a-half ounces to customers each visit. But it illustrates a larger point — that budgets often are filled with surprises. We shouldn’t have to be surprised. Issues that have no business being in the state budget should be addressed as separate bills — so people can be aware of what is being proposed, and be able to argue for or against it.
Not that a stiff drink isn’t in order, given our lack of leadership in Wisconsin, but this is ridiculous.
