Sen. Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson), left, presents an alcohol omnibus bill to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
North Carolina House Republicans have pushed to legalize happy hour promotions and allow canned cocktails on grocery store shelves. So far, the state Senate is not partaking.
Instead, senators are moving forward with House Bill 198, a much leaner omnibus bill than the House proposal, House Bill 921. H198 was originally a technical change to alcohol enforcement passed by the House last February that the Senate has now replaced with their omnibus bill.
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The Senate proposal is 36 pages shorter than the House’s bill, and excludes major alcohol reforms considered by the House, including expanded availability for canned cocktails, happy hour sales, and tax credits for small breweries and microdistilleries.
“The Senate’s approach to alcohol legislation this biennium was more of a technical corrections type of bill where we were working directly with the ABC Commission on some of the hurdles that a lot of our ABC permittees have to deal with,” Sen. Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson) said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “If the House can get their bill over to the Senate, then the Senate will consider it.”
He said major policy changes are better suited for the long session, but did not rule out consideration of canned cocktails and happy hour-type promotions should they clear the House. “I’ve often stated publicly that our position should be regulating alcohol by volume, not necessarily the source of that alcohol,” he said.
Unlike the House bill, the Senate’s version authorizes the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to obtain a $310 million loan for the construction of a new automated warehouse. That loan would be repaid through the ABC’s proceeds from collecting permit fees.
Lobbyists had told lawmakers in the House that the current facility in Raleigh is in disrepair and a replacement is urgently needed.
The bill is also set to allow “bucket sales” of alcoholic beverages at establishments with beer, wine, or liquor permits, with up to six drinks at a time served to a patron in a bucket or other vessel. That provision did not appear in the House version of the bill.
In a Tuesday afternoon meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, lawmakers also removed a provision allowing nonprofits to hold a much higher number of game nights and raffles than is currently allowed under state law.
“There was a lot of concern regarding that, and we did not have enough time to actually put the guardrails in place to put everyone’s mind at ease,” said Moffitt, who introduced the bill before the committee.
A similar provision drew opposition from the North Carolina Family Policy Council during a House committee hearing last month.
The Senate was willing to take up some of the changes backed by the House, however. Among them were provisions legalizing establishments to serve a customer two spirituous drinks at once and allowing alcohol to be sold in the stands at concerts.
The bill still has a long way to go before reaching the Senate floor. If it passes, it’s unclear whether House Republicans will accept it.
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