Sunday Alcohol Sales Bill Passes Legislature; Ball Now In Decatur’s Court
Decatur Metro | April 13, 2011 | 10:41 amLast night the Georgia House passed the Sunday alcohol sales bill 127 to 44. The bill now goes to Gov. Nathan Deal, who has stated publicly many times that he would not veto such a measure.
But what now? Luckily the AJC detailed the necessary moves of local municipalities back on April 4th, in preparation for just such an outcome.
The next step would be for some city council member, county commissioner of government official to put a call for a referendum on a meeting agenda. Then a majority of the board would have to vote for it, giving elections offices ample time to run legal ads, hire poll workers and assemble ballots.
Under state election law, questions can only be put to voters on certain dates. The next chance will be Nov. 8, and this being an odd-numbered year, not everyone has elections scheduled that day. Among them: Atlanta, Marietta, Sandy Springs, Cobb County and Fulton County.
Among those opening polls: every other city in Cobb, every other city in Fulton, all cities in DeKalb County and Lawerenceville, Lilburn, Norcross, Snellville and Suwanee.
Decatur’s got three commissioners up for re-election in the fall, so Decatur will certainly have an opportunity to put it on the ballot this year if they so choose. When (or) will this be brought up? Looks like I need to do a little digging.