Bill would allow liquor sales at senior homes

By YUEHAN LIU
Capital News Service
LANSING— Residents and their guests would be able to be purchase alcoholic beverages at homes for senior citizens if a recent proposal becomes law.
Currently, Michigan homes for the aged can’t legally sell liquor, because they don’t have the license to do so.
To change that situation, Sens. Peter MacGregor, R-Rockford; Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, Curtis Hertel Jr., D-East Lansing, and Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy introduced legislation to authorize the Liquor Control Commission to issue licenses to allow the facilities to sell and serve alcohol.

Knollenberg said he introduced the bill for two reasons.
First, it would be a convenience for residents of those facilities.
“I know a lot of people who live in homes for the aged and when they want to have a cup of beer or wine, they need to go to a bar. People there should have the right to enjoy a cup of wine during a meal,” Knollenberg said.
Knollenberg said another reason is that selling liquor can attract people to live in such facilities.
Hertel said the proposal is simple. It would cap the number of license at 20 statewide and allow alcohol to be sold only to resident and their guests.
Under current law, he said, “90-year-old people can drink, but only not in there.”
Jason Moon, communication director at the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which houses the Liquor Control Commission, said the department doesn’t know details about the proposal yet because it’s so new.
The bill is pending in the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee.