The North Carolina General Assembly is considering various alcohol bills during the long 2025 session. Proposed changes include legalizing happy hour, authorizing Sunday sales by ABC stores, clarifying special one-time permits for nonprofits, easing the process to obtain temporary ABC permits, and regulating hemp-based non-alcoholic beverages by the North Carolina ABC Commission. A full summary of each of the pending alcohol bills is below. If passed by the General Assembly, the legislation would become law immediately when signed by the governor, with the exception of some provisions that would become effective in July or October 2025 (e.g., happy hour), as noted below.
House Bill 921- ABC and Gaming Omnibus Bill
- Authorizes ABC stores to identify North Carolina-based products by price tag or shelf tag, as an alternative to displaying these in a dedicated area of the store.
- Repeals prohibition on manufacturers and wholesalers providing draft line cleaning services to retailers.
- Allows mixed beverage permittees to purchase liquor from any designated ABC store in North Carolina.
- Allows ABC stores to open on Sundays at 10 a.m. or noon, with local government approval.
- Creates a permit and franchise distribution system for wholesalers to distribute premixed cocktails to mixed beverage permittees, effective October 1, 2025.
- Includes whipped cream in the definition of alcohol consumable regulated by the North Carolina ABC Commission.
- Requires local ABC boards to provide mixed beverage permittees with at least 30 days’ notice of an apportioned product lottery.
- Authorizes happy hour for on-premises retail permittees. The bill refers to happy hour specials as “temporary and variable pricing.” If passed, on-premises retailers could offer temporary price adjustments during a limited duration within a single business day. Current ABC regulations prohibit happy hour, as well as other specials with variable pricing such as “buy 1 get 1 free,” or “buy 1 get one for a nickel.” These specials appear to be allowed under the proposed legislation if they take place for a specified and limited duration within a single business day. On-premises retailers would be required to publicly post the pricing on the premises and make the pricing available to the North Carolina ABC Commission upon request. On-premises retailers would be permitted to advertise the specials. If passed, the happy hour provision would take effect October 1, 2025.
- Clarifies that customers in a social district may possess and consume mixed beverages purchased within the social district inside other businesses that do not hold mixed beverage permits, with the permission of that business.
- Provides that nonprofits are not required to obtain a special one-time permit for a ticketed, fundraising event held on a retailer’s premises, when the alcohol is sold by the retail permittee.
- Allows businesses to obtain a temporary ABC permit without having to wait for inspections and local government approvals by submitting an affidavit to the North Carolina ABC Commission. This would help eliminate delays that retailers face when trying to obtain signatures to get the temporary ABC permit. This provision would be effective October 1, 2025.
- Revises law on the sale and delivery of more than one drink at a time to a customer to provide that on-premises permittees may sell two drinks at one time to a single patron regardless of whether the drink contains beer, wine, or liquor. This would be effective October 1, 2025.
- Revises law to clarify possession of fortified wine and spirituous liquor on commercial properties, effective October 1, 2025.
- Revises law on game nights effective October 1, 2025, to allow qualified facilities to hold game nights up to 24 times in a calendar year. The current limit is four.
- Revises law on raffles to authorize and clarify restrictions on 50/50 raffles held by nonprofits and government entities.
Senate Bill 552 – ABC Omnibus
- Provides nearly $310 million in funding for the construction of a new state warehouse for spirituous liquor.
- Establishes a new service business permit which authorizes a business that provides services (such as a salon) to provide complimentary beer and wine to customers for consumption on the premises. This is a change to current law, as the North Carolina ABC Commission has taken the policy position that service businesses without ABC permits could serve complimentary beer and wine to customers receiving services as long as there was no sale of the alcohol. A business could serve no more than two servings to a customer on any calendar day. A serving is 16 fluid ounces for beer, eight ounces for wine. The new law would be effective July 1, 2025.
- Effective October 1, 2025, clarifies open container law to provide that the transportation of alcohol purchased from a retailer is allowed in an unopened manufacturer’s original container. If the manufacturer’s original container is opened, it may be transported in a locked container in the trunk of the vehicle or in the area behind the last upright seat in a motor vehicle not equipped with a trunk.
- Clarifies county mixed beverage election provisions retroactively to October 1, 2024.
- Makes a technical correction to allow brown bagging permits for bars and private clubs.
- Clarifies that customers in a social district may possess and consume mixed beverages purchased within the social district inside other businesses that do not hold mixed beverage permits, with the permission of that business.
Senate Bill 664 – Alternating Proprietorships
- Clarifies that alternating proprietorships are allowed in North Carolina for breweries, wineries, and distilleries. Previous law related to alternating proprietorships only referenced breweries. This bill would be effective immediately.
Senate Bill 535 – Hemp-Derived Beverages
- Defines “hemp-derived beverages” as non-alcoholic beverages fit for human consumption that contain hemp (“hemp” defined in G.S. 90-87(13a) to mean the cannabis plant and any part of the plant, including seeds and derivatives with a delta-9 concentration of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis).
- Also defines “hemp-derived beverages” as “malt beverages” under North Carolina ABC laws. This provision would require retailers of hemp-derived beverages to hold malt beverage permits and would subject hemp-derived beverages to the three-tier system and state franchise laws applicable to producers and wholesalers of malt beverages.
- Provides authority for the North Carolina ABC Commission to set standards, test products, and adopt rules for the regulation of hemp-derived beverages, effective July 1, 2025.
House Bill 198 – Notice of Violations to Permit Holders
- Requires the North Carolina ABC Commission provide written notice to ABC permit holders within five business days of the Commission’s receipt of any violation from any law enforcement agency.
- The notice must identify the alleged violations and the involved employee(s). This bill would become effective immediately.
House Bill 554 – Tax Law Changes
- Section 4.2 provides that a nonresident spirituous liquor vendor no longer needs to register a wine shipper permit with the NC Department of Revenue. This would be effective July 1, 2025.
House Bill 29 – Tribal ID
- Allows the use of a Tribal Enrollment Card issued by a state or federally recognized Indian Tribe to be used as a method of identification for purchasing alcohol or tobacco, effective December 1, 2025.
