legislation beer to go
The new legislation will enable restaurants to temporarily offer to-go sales of beer and wine. Credit: Patrick Fore on Unsplash.

Minnesota Senator Karin Housley has introduced new legislation for beer and wine to-go sales.

The bill will be introduced in the House of Representatives in today’s session.

The new legislation, which is being considered by the Minnesota Legislature, will enable restaurants to temporarily offer to-go sales of beer and wine.

Senator Housley said: “Businesses across Minnesota have been devastated by the events of recent weeks. They’ve made the best of the situation by offering to-go sales of food – and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be allowed to sell their inventories of alcohol and make cash now,” said

“Minnesotans have turned out in droves to support their hometown establishments – and I suspect they will take advantage of these expanded offerings, too. The governor has committed to sign this bill. Let’s do our jobs and send it to his desk.”

If passed, the bill will temporarily allow all establishments to sell beer and wine for off-premise consumption with their existing on-sale liquor licences.

The establishments are required to sell the original, unopened packaging, and be limited to 144 ounces per order for beer and 1,500ml per order for wine.

Additionally, the municipal governing body of any area may vote to prohibit off-sale alcohol within its jurisdiction.

Senator Housley added: “They’re doing this in Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, South Carolina, and many other states. This has a bipartisan agreement and is something that can be done immediately to help to hurt small businesses.”