Testimony: Reducing Unnecessary Alcohol Regulations
Testimony in Support of LD 2088, “An Act to Change the Number of Agency Liquor Stores Allowed in Certain Municipalities”
Senator Hickman, Representative Supica, and distinguished members of the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, thank you for the opportunity to testify on LD 2088. My name is Jacob Posik and I am testifying in support of LD 2088 on behalf of Maine Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to expand individual liberty and economic freedom in Maine.
LD 2088 is a common sense bill, though it’s narrow in scope. Let us be clear in stating that consumers, not Maine state government, should dictate the number of agency liquor stores operating in any given municipality. While the bill marginally increases the allowable number of agency liquor stores in a municipality with population greater than 10,000 but less than 15,001, one must ask for what compelling, justifiable purpose the state of Maine is still arbitrarily restricting competition among agency liquor stores in 2024.
Though Maine Policy supports increasing the threshold, we encourage the committee to consider scrapping all of the outdated framework under which liquor stores are regulated today–including how many can operate in each town and at what times they’re permitted to sell product.
Please deem LD 2088 “Ought to Pass” and consider using it as a vehicle to wholesale reform Maine’s outdated liquor laws. Thank you for your consideration.