Bills that were introduced in both the House and the Senate to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores died Tuesday without being considered in either chamber. 

House Bill 981, sponsored by Rep. Brent Powell (R-Flowood), and Senate Bill 2531, sponsored by Sen. Walter Michel (R-Ridgeland), would have allowed wine to be sold in grocery stores, while providing up to six permits. You are currently limited to one permit.

New establishments, including Costco in Ridgeland, Whole Foods in Jackson, and Sam’s Club in Madison, have separate establishments that sell alcohol – essentially their own liquor store attached to their main store, but not a place you can access without leaving the main grocery store. 

Most grocery stores can’t or won’t take on what is an unnecessary burden. 

The opposition to wine in grocery stores is very loud, and obviously influential with legislators. And they don’t even hide what they are trying to do. It is liquor stores who don’t want competition, and everyone in Jackson knows that. But it shouldn’t be the job of the legislature to pick winners and losers. Coupled with the Department of Revenue who says we can’t handle the capacity of the wine needed to stock Kroger and Walmart (maybe we should remove the state from the alcohol distribution business), you have a pretty dangerous one-two punch that has outgunned citizens who overwhelmingly favor this idea. 

It is abundantly clear that most Mississippians who don’t have a vested interest in the status quo want change. They are tired of having the government make life decisions for them and would prefer that they have the ability to decide if, when, and where they purchase wine.

Wine sales in grocery stores are legal in 39 states, including Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee. But it will remain illegal in Mississippi, at least in 2020.  

We did, however, see some movement on other alcohol freedom bills:

• SB 2534 would authorize the direct shipment of wine. It cleared the Senate Finance committee after a reverse repealer was placed on the bill, ensuring it comes back from the House. A much narrower bill, HB 1088, that would allow you to have wine shipped, but only to a liquor store, passed the House Ways and Means committee. 
• HB 4 would increase the number of liquor store permits you can have. 
• SB 2552 would remove the prohibition on how much alcohol a craft brewery can sell on its premises.

The owner of large medical cannabis cultivator in Arkansas is funding a legislative push to challenge the medical marijuana ballot initiative that will be in front of voters in the fall. 

Mississippi law allows legislative alternatives to appear alongside ballot initiatives, and multiple alternatives have been introduced. If an alternative was adopted, the legislature would be tasked with creating a medical marijuana program in 2021, something they haven’t exactly shown an interest in over the past two decades. 

They haven’t even approved the cultivation of hemp, though highly regulated bills are pending in both chambers.

The difference between the initiative and what some legislators want is obvious. The initiative is a Constitutional amendment that writes a very clean, market based program into law. Legislators wouldn’t be able to make changes or tightly regulate the program as they have done with the CBD oil program. But the alternative puts the ball back in the their court, allowing the legislature to create a small program, with limited options, that may or may not be operating any time in the foreseeable future. 

There are four such concurrent resolutions in the legislature, with three in the House and one in the Senate, though House Concurrent Resolution 39, by state Rep. Trey Lamar (R-Senatobia), appears to be the resolution that is moving. It is highly restrictive and limited, allowing for a "limited number of state-licensed manufacturers," while permitting the Board of Health and similar opponents of medical marijuana to design what they would like.

Since they are resolutions and not bills, they only require approval of the legislature and don’t need the signature of Gov. Tate Reeves to appear on the ballot. 

Where does Steven LaFrance, the owner of Natural State Medicinals in Arkansas, fit in this? His attorney, Alex Gray, recently told Marijuana Moment that LaFrance would like to see licensing caps and a “merit-based” licensing scheme. Sounds a lot like HCR 39.

The ballot initiative would allow those who fit within the regulations to open a business in Mississippi in a free market system without caps or state preference. Essentially, if you follow the law, you can open a business and be in business if you can make money. But the restricted access would likely play very well for LaFrance, who wants to enter the Mississippi market. 

At this point, Mississippi will likely have medical marijuana after the November elections. It’s just a matter of what that program looks like. For LaFrance, he seems to understand very well how business is often conducted in Mississippi - by currying favor with legislators and limiting competition.

House Bill 985, sponsored by Rep. Dan Eubanks, would prohibit the Department of Health from regulating who can discuss general weight loss programs. This would allow entrepreneurs who are knowledgeable about nutrition and healthy lifestyles, even if they are not registered dietitians, to earn a living.

Yesterday, the Mississippi Justice Institute announced a lawsuit challenging the Department’s ban on speech about weight loss after Donna Harris was threatened with jail time and fines for offering weight-loss tips to happy customers. 

Donna has a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and is a certified personal trainer. Her life passion is sharing information about nutrition and physical fitness.  After leaving the workforce to raise her daughter at home, Donna was looking for a new career that would allow her to balance her work and her life as a busy mom. 

As a local fitness instructor, she had already attracted a loyal following. Her clients knew Donna was passionate and knowledgeable about nutrition and physical fitness, so many began turning to her for weight-loss advice. Some even suggested she start private classes, offering to pay for her services. So, Donna decided to make the plunge. She would become an entrepreneur. She began offering an eight-week weight loss program at the beginning of 2020 and had 70 participants signed up immediately. 

Donna’s website included disclaimers that she wasn’t a registered dietician, and that she would only be providing weight loss strategies and would not be offering information to treat specific medical conditions.  And Mississippi law specifically exempts people offering “general nutrition information as to the use of foods, food materials, or dietary supplements” from the licensure requirements. The Department claimed that Donna and others are only allowed to provide government-approved guidelines, such as the Food Pyramid and myplate.gov, not provide the advice she was offering. To satisfy the state, and avoid jail time and fines, Donna would have to complete 1,200 hours of training that she doesn’t need or have the time to complete.

This legislation would allow Donna and others like her to earn a living, while decreasing our state’s regulatory burden. 

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it is aligned with our principles and therefore should be supported. 

Read HB 985.

Track the status of this bill and all bills in our legislative tracker. 

A recently published survey showcased overwhelmingly strong support for allowing wine to be sold in grocery stores across the state of Mississippi.

The Looking For Wine coalition, in conjunction with Spry Strategies conducted the poll which found that 75 percent of Mississippians support the policy change.

The survey comes as further testament that Mississippians are in favor of increasing alcohol freedom in the Magnolia state and rolling back prohibition-era policies that limit the economic freedom of both buyers and sellers.

Furthermore, the survey also found that 48 percent of respondents would be more likely to vote for a House or Senate candidate who supported reforms that would allow grocery stores to sell wine in addition to beer, while only 17 percent would be less likely to vote for said candidates.

Fascinatingly, exhibited by the survey was the fact that well over 70 percent of respondents who identified as Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all supported the ability for grocery stores to sell wine. This indicates the broad, non-partisan nature of the vast coalition of supporters.

It is abundantly clear that most Mississippians want change. They are tired of having the government make life decisions for them and would prefer that they have the ability to decide if, when, and where they purchase wine.

If our state political leaders want to secure a major bipartisan win, then alcohol freedom is the place to start. After all, how often do we have an issue that 75 percent of people across all political parties agree on?

With a range of bills having been introduced this session, there are a range of good policy options available, including the sale of wine in grocery stores, raising the business license cap, reforming the wet-dry county process, and more. Mississippi truly has the chance to make this the year for alcohol freedom in the state.

Rural states, even with more heavily-regulated alcohol marketplaces, tend to have higher death rates from alcohol-related car crashes.

Conversely, states with more of their population in urban areas and less heavily regulated alcohol marketplaces tend to be on the lower end of the scale when it comes to alcohol-related car crashes. This is according to an analysis of data from the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, rural states tend to have higher overall driving death rates than more urban ones, because of a variety of factors including a smaller number of trauma centers, higher rates of texting while driving and lower seatbelt usage rates. 

Of the top five states for alcohol-impaired driving deaths from 2004 to 2014, three are control states for alcohol and all but one (Mississippi allows the sale of wine in liquor stores) permit the sale of wine in grocery stores. All three average about 1.963 million in population.

A control state is one where states are in charge of the sale of distilled spirits and sometimes even wine and beer through state agencies at the wholesale level. 

The Mississippi Department of Revenue regulates the sale of alcohol in Mississippi through the licensing of retailers, taxation at both the wholesale and retail levels and wholesaling of both liquor and wine. The Magnolia State is one of five states that wholesale both wine and distilled spirits.

The states with the lowest death rates from alcohol-related incidents are more heavily populated (8.5 million average population) and all but one (Utah) are non-control states, which means private distributors handle the wholesaling of distilled spirits, wine and beer.

Parsing the data further, the average alcohol-related traffic deaths per 100,000 residents was 40 for the 43 states that are non-control states and 45 for the 17 that are.

In 2017, the Arkansas legislature allowed the sale of wine in grocery stores via the passage of Act 508. In 2018, there were 516 traffic fatalities in the state, up from 493 the year before the legislation passed but considerably less than the 10-year average of 528.

Giving someone weight loss advice, ideas for healthy recipes, and grocery list recommendations can land you in jail for six months with fines totaling $1,000, according to the Mississippi Department of Health. 

Donna Harris learned that first hand when the Mississippi State Department of Health threatened to throw her in jail for offering weight-loss tips to happy customers.  But now, working in partnership with the Mississippi Justice Institute (“MJI”), a non-profit constitutional litigation center and the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, Donna is fighting back against the Department’s unconstitutional ban on speech about weight loss.   

“Conversations about the best ways to lose weight are as old as modern civilization itself,” said MJI director Aaron Rice. “The government does not have the power to stop people from speaking about this common, everyday topic.  If anything, the government should be encouraging these conversations, especially when our state is struggling with such high rates of obesity.”

Donna has a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and is a certified personal trainer. Her life passion is sharing information about nutrition and physical fitness.  After leaving the workforce to raise her daughter at home, Donna was looking for a new career that would allow her to balance her work and her life as a busy mom. 

As a local fitness instructor, she had already attracted a loyal following. Her clients knew Donna was passionate and knowledgeable about nutrition and physical fitness, so many began turning to her for weight-loss advice. Some even suggested she start private classes, offering to pay for her services. So, Donna decided to make the plunge. She would become an entrepreneur. 

She began offering an eight-week weight loss program at the beginning of 2020 and had 70 participants signed up immediately. 

“When I learned I would have to cancel my weight-loss class, I was devastated,” said Harris.  “People were counting on me and they were so excited about learning how to lose weight in a healthy way, and they were so disappointed when I told them I was not going to be able to go through with the program. I felt like my dreams had been crushed.”  

Donna’s website included disclaimers that she wasn’t a registered dietician, and that she would only be providing weight loss strategies and would not be offering information to treat specific medical conditions.  And Mississippi law specifically exempts people offering “general nutrition information as to the use of foods, food materials, or dietary supplements” from the licensure requirements. 

The department claimed that Donna and others are only allowed to provide government-approved guidelines, such as the Food Pyramid and myplate.gov, not provide the advice she was offering.

To satisfy the state, and avoid jail time and fines, Donna would have to complete 1,200 hours of training that she doesn’t need or have the time to complete as a busy mom. 

”In Mississippi, we should be encouraging people like Donna to follow their dreams, start businesses, create jobs, and teach people how to eat healthier,” said Rice. “We shouldn’t be putting unconstitutional red tape in their way.”

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Mississippi. 

At a meeting of the Ways and Means Temperance Subcommittee Wednesday, legislators heard about the advantages and disadvantages of removing some of the nation’s most restrictive laws on alcohol.

There is building momentum to change the state’s antiquated policies enacted after the state was the last one nationally to end prohibition in 1966 after allowing the sale of beer in 1933. 

Ocean Springs Mayor Shea Dobson said he supports wine in grocery stores because of economic development, increased product availability, and its ability to possibly attract millennials. 

Mississippi Department of Revenue Commissioner Herb Frierson told the subcommittee that he supports allowing package stores to sell lottery tickets. He also said that any attempt to bring wine to grocery stores would cause them to want to sell liquor as well.

His agency supports spinning off the state’s massive liquor and wine warehouse to a public/private partnership like the Mississippi Lottery. He said pure privatization would result in higher costs for consumers (since the state acts as the distributor and contracts shipping to an outside firm) and would cost the state $80 million in revenue annually from giving up the warehouse.

There is popular support for changing state law to sell wine in grocery stores. According to a telephone poll of 700 registered voters by Spry Strategies, 74 percent say they would support such legislation and 48 percent said they’d be more likely to vote for a legislative candidate who’d support the sale of wine in grocery stores. 

Wine sales in grocery stores are legal in 39 states, including Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana.

The poll was commissioned by Looking For Wine, a coalition that seeks to bring the sale of wine to grocery stores.

There are 600 permits issued for package stores in the state and 2,000 permits for restaurants and bars statewide.

According to the DOR, the warehouse’s damage rate is only 0.11 percent and it boasts an accuracy rate of 99.9 percent.

Victor Pittman is the president of the Mississippi Hospitality Beverage Association and owner of a package store, Silver Leaf Wines and Spirits, in Ridgeland. His organization has defeated efforts to bring wine to grocery stores in the past few years. 

 “Out of state retail corporations harvest money that could be recirculating in our local economies,” Pittman said. “Online retailers leave nothing for recirculation in the economy. Municipalities and our state lose because the tax base shrinks. Direct shipments would be disruptive and a disaster.” 

He told the subcommittee that allowing grocery stores to sell wine would largely put the state’s package stores out of business since most of their money comes from wine sales. He said increasing the number of permits would only dilute market share because of the state’s declining population. 

He also said any change to the state law — which by Mississippi counties and cities are “dry” and sales of alcohol are forbidden barring a local election to change a municipality or county to “wet” — would be an imposition upon the dry counties in the state.

“Big out-of-state grocery and box retailers have had years of practice of profiting off the destruction of public health in other states,” Pittman said. “Alcohol markets are unable to regulate themselves without being destructive to public health and safety. Any increase in consumption places an undue burden on taxpayers, public safety officials and the health care industry.” 

He also claimed that alcohol-related vehicular fatalities would go up if the state liberalized the sale of wine and spirits.

Subcommittee chairman and state Rep. Hank Zuber (R-Ocean Springs) asked Pittman if his organization would be willing to reach a compromise on allowing additional permits per entity to allow outlets like Costco and Trader Joes (which rely heavily on alcohol sales as part of their business model) to have multiple stores in the state. 

Pittman said his organization would open to a possible compromise.

Among the bills being considered by the legislature include:

- House Bill 979 would end the flip the default setting of “dry” to “wet.” If an area wants to go back to being dry if this bill became law, it’d have to hold another election.

- House Bill 4 would increase the maximum number of package retailer permits from the present one to three.

- House Bill 1088 and Senate Bill 2533 would allow individuals to purchase wine from an out-of-state winery and have it shipped to a package retailer in Mississippi. Right now, Mississippi is one of only five states to ban the direct shipment of wine to a consumer.

- House Bill 1381 would allow the sale and consumption of alcohol at athletic events at a public school, community college or university. It also “brings forward” code sections related to alcohol that could allow the legislature to enact further changes to state law.

- Senate Bill 2534 would authorize the direct shipment of wine to consumers.

The state is a control state, which means the state controls the distribution of wine and spirits. Even wine and liquor made in Mississippi have to go to the state’s warehouse in Gluckstadt before they can be shipped out to package stores, restaurants and bars statewide.

A bill in the legislature would create the Mississippi Millennial Commission to study issues affecting millennials. Knowing the general pace of government, this would likely be completed by the time millennials are nearing retirement.

But it's not an unworthy topic. So in this episode of Unlicensed, MCPP's Brett Kittredge chats with special guest and friend of the movement Anja Baker about this proposed commission while providing their thoughts on what the state can do to stem the tide of a shrinking population. 

The owner of a large medical cannabis cultivator in Arkansas has paid two lobbyists to raise opposition in the legislature against the state’s medical marijuana ballot initiative.

According to state records, marijuana entrepreneur Stephen LaFrance has hired Jim and Ted Thompson of Thompson and Associates. No lobbying issue was listed on the registration forms filed with the secretary of state’s office.

LaFrance is the owner of the Natural State Medicinals, which started shipping marijuana to dispensaries in May 2019. The White Hall, Arkansas-based cultivator was the second grower to make their products available to dispensaries in Arkansas. 

What LaFrance is seeking is obvious: To kill Initiative 65, which would create a medical cannabis program in Mississippi and mandate that the state Department of Health run the program.

According to Mississippi law, once a ballot initiative receives enough signatures and the secretary of state’s office approves them to appear on the ballot, the legislature has the right to put a legislative alternative on the ballot as well. These are designed to confuse voters and siphon support from the original initiative. 

Jamie Grantham, the communications director for Mississippians for Compassionate Care, said the campaign’s position on the legislative alternatives is that they are an attempt to kill the initiative.

“The legislature has had 20 years to do it and they’ve not wanted to touch it,” Grantham said. “Multiple legislators have put forth bills and none of those has made it to the floor for a vote at the capitol. It requires a voter on November 3 to get to the bottom of the ballot, who is maybe is excited about voting yes and it’s a two-step, convoluted process in order to defeat it.”

There are four such concurrent resolutions in the legislature, with three in the House and one in the Senate. The one thing all would do is punt creation of a program until next year’s legislative session, which is highly unlikely. 

Since they are resolutions and not bills, they only require approval of the legislature and don’t need the signature of Gov. Tate Reeves to appear on the ballot. 

Only House Concurrent Resolution 39, by state Rep. Trey Lamar (R-Senatobia), would create a program and would restrict the program to those with terminal conditions. The other three resolutions are exact duplicates of each other.

The most recent case of the legislative alternative was during the fight over Initiative 42, which would’ve given the Hinds County Chancery Court the power to appropriate more state money for individual school districts through injunctions. 

The legislature passed an alternative, Initiative 42A, and the original initiative died by a 51.66 percent to 46.98 percent margin. The difference between those who voted for approval of 42 and the alternative was 8,933 votes or about two percentage points. Ultimately, the alternative didn’t do enough damage to 42 to hasten its demise with voters.

Keeping Mississippi from enacting a program could likely be profitable for Arkansas. 

According to a story on KFSM TV in Arkansas, patients in the Natural State have spent $35.69 million on medical marijuana since sales began in May and 16 dispensaries are open in the state.