November 20th, 2015 by WCBC Radio
The Allegany County Commissioners will meet with the District 1 Legislative Delegation in mid December to outline the county’s legislative priorities- several of those request will focus on proposed change to liquor laws. The 2016 General Assembly opens its 90 day session on January 13th. The county has heard from tavern and liquor store owners in the past few months and a number of proposals have been presented. One of those would allow servers aged 18 to 20 to serve customers liquor. The current law allows those serves under 21 to serve beer and wine, but not spirits. The change would allow those in the bar business a wider, and younger field of candidates to choose from when hiring- and provide a better opportunity for younger people to land those jobs. Another change proposed would permit the sale of alcohol in bars on Sunday to begin at 11 am as opposed to the current 1pm start. Another recommendation is to allow limited Sunday sales for liquor stores- which are currently required to be closed on Sundays. Several of the letters to the commissioners from the bar and liquor store owners referred to Maryland’s liquor laws as antiquated and anti business. They also point to Allegany County being a so-called “border” county, with resident’s just minutes from West Virginia and Pennsylvania- both states that have far less restrictive liquor laws. That often leads to local residents doing business outside of the area. The commissioners plan to hear input from the County Liquor Board on the proposed changes prior to meeting with the delegation.
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