Mississippi’s House of Representatives has passed a bill that would effectively remove prohibition from state law.
The bill – HB 777 – will automatically allow cities under 5,000 in population to sell liquor and wine. If the municipalities do not wish to do so, citizens can reverse the decision through the referendum process at the local level.
It has only been since 1966 that Mississippi repealed its statewide prohibition law – the last state to do so.
Current law now allows for counties to choose whether to be “wet or dry.” The terminology “wet and dry” refers to counties that allow liquor sales (wet) and those who do not (dry).
“When are we going to bring Mississippi into the 21st century? This bill is a small bite of the apple in opening our alcohol laws,” said Republican State Rep. Hank Zuber.
According to Zuber, Mississippi has under 30 counties out of its 82 that are still considered dry. Some of those counties are considered “semi” dry. Many cities inside those areas allow liquor sales. For instance, Rankin County in central Mississippi is a dry county, but the City of Brandon in Rankin allows the sale of liquor and wine.