House Passes Liquor Measures Without Sunday Shift
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- The Minnesota House has passed a bill permitting later bar hours during baseball's All-Star Game, allowing continuation of beer sales at University of Minnesota football games and granting other liquor licenses around the state.
The liquor bill was approved 120-10 on Thursday, but not without a fight over unusual procedure.
A similar bill got stuck in the Senate after a change to allow the Sunday takeaway sales at craft breweries. It was seen as a first but foreboding change to Minnesota law prohibiting Sunday liquor sales outside of bars and restaurants.
House members used a procedural maneuver that didn't allow for the Sunday sales debate, upsetting backers of the proposed change.
Under the bill, Hennepin County bars could remain open until 4 a.m. around the mid-July baseball festivities in Minneapolis.
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