New alcohol laws allow Sunday morning sales

Jul. 22—In May, Governor Laura Kelly signed off on House Bill 2137, which created amendments to certain liquor laws in Kansas. The bill touched on the extended Sunday sales, authorizing To-Go alcoholic beverages, aligning farm wineries with federal law and more.

With the changes, each Kansas municipality could decide to adopt any of the amendments to their own liquor laws. On July 11, Abilene City Commissioners voted on Ordinance No. 21-4000, which allowed for retail liquor to be sold at 9 a.m. on Sunday and update city code's definition of Cereal Malt Beverages.

The definition of CMB is now any fermented but un-distilled liquor made from malt with "not more than 6% alcohol by volume when such beer is sold by a retailer licensed under the Kansas Cereal Malt Beverage Act," according to the ordinance.

The commissioners voted to approve the changes with reluctance from Vice Mayor Marshall and an absent vote from Commissioner Trevor Witt.

With the passing, liquor stores in Abilene can soon start selling alcohol at 9 a.m., but that doesn't to be a plan for most.

Owners at Rock Retail Liquor chose to give no comment about the changes with Sunday sales.

The owner of Meysenburg's Liquor Store shared his opinion over the new changes and the future of Sunday sales.

"I don't think anybody wants it," Danny Meysenburg said. "I think we mostly did that because of Kansas City. The Kansas City liquor stores felt like they weren't getting treated right, because Missouri was open for the football games."

"I'm not going to lie to you," Meysenburg said. "I'm not going to open up on 9 o'clock on Sunday."