CO Senate Bill Dies
Companion bill to allow C stores to sell full-strength beer is pulled by author
Colorado State Senator Betty Boyd killed her own bill to let Colorado convenience stores sell full-strength beer last week after declaring she did not have enough support to get it through the state Senate.
The moves came eight days after the House overwhelmingly killed another bill, House Bill 1284, that would have allowed both grocery and convenience stores to sell full-strength beer rather than just beer of less than 4 percent alcohol by volume, as they do now.
Boyd said that her Senate Bill 194, which was viewed as having a better chance at passage than HB 1284 because it would have confined full-strength beer expansion to convenience stores of 5,000 square feet or less, had enough support to pass when she introduced it on March 15.
But that support gradually eroded, likely due to an intense lobbying effort from liquor stores and craft breweries.
