Happy hour is likely coming back to Indiana after lawmakers give bill final approval

If Gov. Eric Holcomb is amenable, happy hour will become legal again in Indiana after nearly 40 years.

The General Assembly gave final approval Thursday to House Bill 1086, which repeals the ban on social hour and allows restaurants to sell specialty cocktails to go, something the Senate had taken out of the bill. The Senate gave its final approval of the measure by a 39-9 vote with no discussion, and the House voted 80-12.

In the 1980s, a wave of states banned restaurants from offering discount drinks during specified hours out of concern that they encourage bad behavior like drunk driving. Today, Indiana is one of only a small handful that still restricts it.

The restaurant industry supports the bill because they say happy hour ― or "social hour," as the industry now prefers to call it, since it isn't the 1970s anymore ― is a way to draw in customers during slow periods. Today, they can only run all-day deals.

"Hoosiers overwhelmingly are looking forward to the continuing modernization of Indiana's liquor laws," Patrick Tamm, president and CEO of the Indiana Restaurant & Lodging Association, told IndyStar.

Bill author Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, said he thinks the bill will help restaurants adapt to this post-COVID world.

"Many of these businesses still have not returned to pre-pandemic levels of operation, particularly in our state's downtown areas," he said on the House floor on Jan. 29. "This legislation is another tool in the toolbox to help these establishments while maintaining reasonable precautions and protections for public health and safety."

Some guardrails on the return of happy hour: Restaurants can't do all-you-can-drink deals or contests that involve drinking certain amounts of alcohol for a prize. And the happy hour cannot last more than four hours in a single day and more than 15 hours in a week.

Something else the bill does that both the restaurant industry and the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission welcome: It requires all retailers to have liquor liability insurance.

That's a standard practice among restauranteurs, Tamm said ― in case a patron drinks to excess, gets hurt and wants to sue the establishment they were drinking at. But, to date, this hasn't been required by law, to the shock of many.

"We unequivocally sat there and said, how could this be?" Tamm said.

The law would go into effect July 1 if Holcomb signs it.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Happy hour in Indiana: After 40 years, it may come back July 1.