Alabama Grocer 2023 Issue 4.indd

2024 LEGISLATIVE & REGULATORY AGENDA ALABAMA GROCERS ASSOCIATION

1. Work with all interested parties to come to a consensus on a bill to allow off premise licensees, including supermarkets and convenience stores, to sell spirits-based ready-to-drink products of at least 6-10% ABV. 2. Set regional meetings in September/October to bring grocers and legislative leaders at the federal, state and local levels together to discuss grocery industry issues. 3. Work to complete the state grocery sales tax removal. Now with high inflation and rising food prices, Alabamians need this relief more than ever. Encourage local counties and cities to also remove the tax. 4. Work with industry partners including the District Attorneys Association and Attorney General to complete the implementation of INFORMS, Organized Retail Theft and Shoplifting laws and ensure enforcement. Organized retail theft rings steal billions of dollars of merchandise each year, victimizing retailers, endangering the safety of retail employees, and raising the price of consumer goods. 5. Work on legislation to add federal language regarding FDA regulations enforcement. 6. Work with national partners on legislation that would protect retailers from frivolous Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits. 7. Privatize alcohol sales in Alabama. 8. Rewrite and increase funding on Healthy Food Financing Initiatives for the expansion of supermarkets into underserved areas of Alabama. The grocery industry has established that they are essential businesses for our communities. 9. Work on both the federal and state levels on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Ensure that we are preserving choice, staggering benefits, and eliminating fraud and improper payments without increasing the burden on the retail community. Ensure that benefits are preserved in a retail format, consumers are given flexibility in their shopping choices, and Alabama receives the maximum benefits allowable for their consumers. Prevent bills that deter benefits for Alabama consumers. 10. Work with other business organizations in the state regarding the testing and regulation of the use of medical marijuana in the workplace, how it relates to workers compensation, and health insurance rates and coverages.

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