SB 86: Alcoholic Beverages; retail dealers to offer discounts to consumers through premiums, coupons, or rebates on alcoholic beverages purchased for consumption off the premises; authorize

Currently Georgia law restricts how retail alcohol dealers can lower prices for consumers, and package liquor stores are limited to 52 in-store tasting events per year. This bill adds a new section to Georgia's alcoholic beverage code (O.C.G.A. Title 3) allowing any retail dealer to offer discounts through premiums, coupons, or rebates on alcohol sold for consumption off the premises, as long as several conditions are met. The discount must apply at all of that dealer's licensed locations, cannot favor one brand, must be paid for entirely by the retailer rather than funded by a manufacturer, and cannot bring the sale price below what the retailer paid (wholesale price plus local excise tax). Separately, the bill raises the annual cap on tasting events at retail package liquor stores from 52 to 104 per year, while keeping existing rules like one event per day, a four-hour limit, and pour-size caps. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Creates a new Georgia code section (3-3-12) letting retail alcohol dealers offer discounts through premiums, coupons, or rebates on alcohol sold for off-site consumption.
• Requires any such discount to be offered at all of a retail dealer's licensed locations and to not favor a specific alcohol brand.
• Bars retailers from funding these discounts using money from alcohol manufacturers, requiring the retailer to bear all related costs itself.
• Prohibits discounts that would sell alcohol below the retailer's actual cost, defined as wholesale price plus local excise tax.
• Doubles the number of tasting events a retail package liquor store may hold each year from 52 to 104, while keeping existing per-event rules unchanged.
• Sets the effective date as the day the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law without a signature.

Retail dealers of alcoholic beverages in Georgia, including package liquor stores, along with alcohol manufacturers and wholesalers whose promotional practices are restricted, and consumers who buy alcohol for consumption off the premises where they buy it.

Retail dealers could advertise price breaks like coupons or rebates on alcohol taken home, something current law does not clearly allow, while manufacturers would remain barred from subsidizing those discounts. Liquor stores could also host twice as many tasting events each year, giving customers more chances to sample products in store.

• Section 1 adds O.C.G.A. § 3-3-12, defining 'discount' as a lower price offered through a premium, coupon, or rebate.
• Section 1 requires that any discount be offered uniformly across all of a retail dealer's licensed premises and not target a specific brand.
• Section 1 requires the retail dealer to bear all costs of the discount itself, with no direct or indirect funding from a manufacturer.
• Section 1 bars discounts that would sell alcohol below the retailer's cost, defined as wholesale price plus local excise tax, based on invoices the commissioner may require on site.
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 3-15-2 to raise the annual limit on retail package liquor store tasting events from 52 to 104.
• Section 3 sets the effective date as the date of the Governor's approval, or the date the bill becomes law without approval.
• Section 4 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-06Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senado)
2. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senado)
3. 2026-01-12Senate Taken from Table (Senado)
4. 2025-03-06Senate Tabled (Senado)
5. 2025-02-20Senate Read Second Time (Senado)
6. 2025-02-19Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senado)
7. 2025-02-04Senate Read and Referred (Senado)
8. 2025-02-03Senate Hopper (Senado)

• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)Patrocinador principal
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-047)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Sally Harrell (D, SD-040)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• David Lucas (D, SD-026)
• Freddie Sims (D, SD-012)

• alcohol sales
• liquor store regulations
• retail discounts
• alcoholic beverage law