Senate Bill 247 passed both the Michigan Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives with bipartisan support
LANSING, Mich. (July 19, 2023) — Today, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed Senate Bill 247, Sen. Sean McCann’s (D-Kalamazoo) legislation to allow colleges and universities to apply for liquor licenses for not more than five locations where they would be eligible to sell alcoholic beverages.
“I applaud the Governor for recognizing the inherent fairness issues contained in Senate Bill 247 and her signature on my legislation,” Sen. McCann said. “It is a basic issue of equality to patrons: why should VIPs get to enjoy the beverage of their choice and other attendees not? This levels the playing field and will allow all patrons 21 and over at intercollegiate sporting events the ability to enjoy the event with an alcoholic beverage if they choose to.”
Michigan will now join 11 of the 14 Big Ten schools which currently allow the sale of alcohol, including Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State, Purdue, Penn State, Rutgers, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Iowa.
“We are incredibly grateful for Sen. McCann’s efforts on getting this legislation passed in such an effective and quick manner,” said Dan Bartholomae, Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics at Western Michigan University. “We heard from our fans that providing this additional experience at our athletic events is something that they wanted and I am excited that the Board of Trustees acknowledged this and gave us the green light to proceed with the new licensing requirements included in this bill.”
SB 247 would allow the Michigan Liquor Control Commission to issue no more than five tavern or class C licenses for scheduled events within the public area of a facility on university property that is customarily used for intercollegiate athletic events. The licenses could be used for no more than 100 days per calendar year in aggregate for all licenses combined. The sale of alcohol would be limited to 1 hour before the event, ending no later than the conclusion of the event with all consumption to be concluded 30 minutes after the event has ended. The bill would also allow for an additional five days per calendar year for events that are not athletic in nature hosted at these selected locations.
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