By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Legislation that would raise fees for manufacturers, distributors and retailers of alcoholic beverages and loosen restrictions on Sunday sales at clubs and restaurants advanced in a Senate committee Tuesday.

Senate Bill 121 by Sen. Robert Thompson, D-Paragould, goes to the Senate floor with the endorsement of the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.

Michael Langley, director of the Alcohol Beverage Control Division, said after the meeting that the additional fees would generate about $1.3 million and allow the agency to acquire new technology, create education programs for law enforcement officers and sellers of alcoholic beverages, and allow the hiring of possibly three or four new enforcement agents.

“We have a serious need for more enforcement officers,” Langley said. “There are 17 agents that handle over 5,000 permits. We need to get more people in the populated areas, Northwest Arkansas needs at least one.”

SB 121 was originally presented to the committee last month, but was pulled it after some lawmakers questioned some of the fee increases and suggested they would harm small distributing companies.

Thompson offered an amendment and the committee unanimously endorsed the new version.

The amendment changed the proposed fee increase for those seeking minimum wholesale permits from $10,000 to $2,500, and reduced from $100 to $50 the proposed temporary permit fees to sell beer, wine or spirits.

Another change kept the permit for bed and breakfasts at $75.

The measure also would raise the restaurant wine permit from $50 to $300 and seeks to change the hours for Sunday sales at clubs and restaurants from noon to 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. to midnight.