It's Official - Florida Lawmakers Pass the ‘Alcohol to go’ Bill
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the spring of 2020 issued an executive order that included “alcohol to go” to help restaurants forced to nly to "take out" food orders, as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Shortly after adding the "alcohol to go", the Governor endorsed the idea to make that rule permanent.
Yesterday, (4/28/21) Florida lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would make that permanent change, thus allowing restaurants to sell alcoholic drinks with take-home meals.
(SB 148), saw the Florida House vote 111-1 to approve it, as the State Senate had also voted to approve the bill.
The bill would require cutting off the sale of to-go drinks --- mixed or in bottles --- when restaurants’ scheduled food service ends for the day or at midnight, whichever occurs first.
Drinks would need to be placed in secured containers and placed in locked compartments, vehicle trunks or in areas behind the last upright seats in vehicles. Restaurants would be prohibited from including alcoholic drinks in orders being delivered by people under age 21.
The to-go option would be available to restaurants that have special alcoholic-beverage licenses and derive at least 51 percent of revenue from food and non-alcoholic sales. For restaurants with regular “quota” licenses, food and non-alcoholic drinks would have to account for 60 percent of the orders.