Private Bars

An expansive House bill covering several potential amendments to North Carolina liquor laws passed the Senate Rules and Operations Committee with a favorable vote at the group’s Monday meeting.

Among other proposals, HB768 — known as the 2022 ABC Omnibus bill — would “eliminate the membership requirement for private bars,” according to Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson, the bill’s sponsor. The adjustment would upend a longstanding North Carolina law that has survived since the 1930’s post-prohibition era. To visit a bar or nightclub (a business serving liquor but not food) patrons must now register as members, pay a membership fee and supply some personal information. Bar owners have long decried the law as stifling.

HB211, a complementary bill called the Social District/Common Area Clarifications bill, would widen the circumstances under which it’s permissible to “possess an open container of fortified wine or spirituous liquor without an ABC permit...” It passed the Senate Rules and Operations Committee with a favorable vote on Monday. “I don’t know if it would make alcohol more available,” said Moffitt, who also sponsored HB211, “but it would increase the flexibility of where people access it.”