Institute for Justice Praises Passage of Permanent To-go Cocktails Bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—With the passage of Senate Bill 148, Florida restaurants are a big step closer to being able to permanently provide to-go cocktails to customers. An executive order has provided a lifeline to businesses during the pandemic, but it has also proved popular and safe. The Institute for Justice (IJ) supported the permanent change and applauds lawmakers for giving businesses the freedom to serve Floridians in the way that works best for them.

“The executive order’s success has shown that the restrictions on to-go cocktails should not have existed,” said IJ Florida Office Managing Attorney Justin Pearson. “Making this service permanently available to restaurants and their customers is a sensible step. This good bill will help restaurant entrepreneurs and their employees to recover from the pandemic while also providing customers with more options.”

“We want to thank the bill sponsors, Senator Bradley and Representative Tomkow, for their work on both chambers’ versions of the bill. We also want to thank the bipartisan coalition of members who helped on this, including Governor DeSantis for issuing the executive order in the first place.”