Well, that didn’t take long.
Last Friday, the governor signed the “Brunch Bill,” which, among other things, makes it legal for cities and counties to pass local ordinances allowing alcohol sales before noon on Sundays. The bill doesn’t force local governments to do anything. It just frees them up to change the rules if they wish.
And clearly many of them do. Carrboro voted on Monday to allow the sale of alcohol beginning at 10am on Sundays. On Wednesday, Raleigh followed suit. Hendersonville did the same on Thursday. Mecklenburg County is planning to vote on the measure next week, and Charlotte soon. There may be others, and this is just in the first week.
The bill is not without controversy. Some argue that we should maintain some sort of reverence for Sunday mornings, and that allowing alcohol sales undermines that. Honestly, I’m not even totally unsympathetic with that position. My family chooses to set Sundays aside as special, rarely eating at a restaurant at all, much less sipping mimosas before noon.
But it’s one thing to make a personal choice, and it’s another to legislate. The General Assembly is right to give local governments more freedom in this area to make choices that work for local communities. I won’t be at a bar on Sunday morning, but I’m glad to see the legislators trusting local people with these decisions rather than dictating from Raleigh.
