John Kelly, owner of Longhills Wine & Spirits, believes two legislative bills could hurt local small businesses all over Arkansas if they are passed. He bought advertising with MySaline to be at the Capitol on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, so he could speak on video about Senate Bill 97 & Senate Bill 98.
Read the details and watch the video below. 
Because this was a live video, you’ll want to skip forward
by about a minute. If you’d rather read the text transcript of the video, scroll to the end of this article.
• Click to read the full text of Senate Bill 97.
• Click to read the full text of Senate Bill 98.
• To reach your legislators, visit this page and scroll to State Representatives and State Senators.
UPDATE FEB 13, 2025
Mr. Kelly received new information and emailed House of Representative members the following letter and attachment on Thursday morning:
Senate Bill 97 known as the Permit Expansion Bill has made it to the House. The quick summary of the bill would be that it expands the number of permits from the current maximum from one to three. This expansion is limited to counties with a population of 200,000 residents or more. Currently that would include Pulaski, Washington and Benton counties. I wish that quick short bullet points would get you up to speed on why we are in opposition. It just not possible.
As an opponent the most bothersome things are that this bill has so far been advanced without any consideration to current realities of ABC enforcement. This bill makes substantially more complex the work the ABC must do to keep the playing field level. With sound business logic, a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of current laws, lots of real world examples of likely current violations and gross inequities I, a seasoned liquor store owner come to you pleading for the opportunity to explain our position. Without extensive study I believe it would be difficult for anyone fully understand the nuances. I beg you to please take the time to understand the arguments both for and against this bill. The Federal Trade Commission case (see below) which was filed in December of 2024, tells a story that directly speaks to the very violation that could give big box stores the power to put us out of business. It’s not from a lack of effort but the challenges we face bringing voters understanding up to a level that would have them ready to weigh in are substantial. I would hope that before you decide on this bill you will gather facts as to how the law are suppose to work, talk to your constituents, ask hard question about current enforcement and take the time to agree or disagree as to the assertion being made regarding this bill. The rules and the structure we are suppose to be following were sets up a long time ago. They were crafted to insure a safe and fair distribution. Not sure how helping big corporations gain control over this industry is going to make communities safer or stronger. I pray you will agree that when rules are not substantially enforced honest people suffer and cheating at all levels runs rampant. If SB97 and its sister bill SB98 are passed by this body I believe it will result in the a quick demise of honest small retail stores in the counties above and a slower yet eventual demise of the hundred of other stores throughout the state. Does that seems like positive progress for your families and neighbors?
Proponents claim it will open up this market to competition.
We claim it just hands WalMart the silver platter they need to have in order in short order dominate the entire industry.
Proponents claim it will allow other entrepreneurs to expand their business.
We would like to point out the fact that during the Public Comment part of both Senate City County Local and the House Rules Committee hearings the people who came to speak in favor included no entrepreneurs or business people wanting to expand. Just Wal Mart lobbyist.
John Kelly,
Longhills Wine and Spirits
501-765-0243
PREVIOUSLY FEB 11, 2025
Mr. Kelly texted Senator Matt McKee, a Republican in District 6 on Tuesday morning:
“Senator McKee, I own a Liquor store in Saline County. SB97 and SB98 are bad for Saline County and bad for The communities small businesses like my store serves. If you allow it Walmart and others to start delivering alcohol into Saline County both city and County revenue will be adversely affected. Vote No on SB97.”
Mr. Kelly then followed up with a more detailed email as follows:
Senator McKee, In the Senate discussion on this bill Sen. Hammer ask Sen. Hester if this bill would have any impact what so ever on wet/dry initiatives?
Sen. Hester said NONE. While this may be technically correct, there is no debate about it, WalMart is throwing its weight behind that very thing. More details below. It’s not just hear say. ABRA members have told us and it’s the same playbook used by WMT 5 year ago.
I come to you again hoping to build a case for you to vote against SB97 and SB98. I believe very strongly that my opinions are based on facts and logic. Many of the facts that I will lay out can be verified by the ABC Director. I hope you will do all you can to make sure that my assertions of facts are not allowed to be quickly dismissed.
When the legislature makes rules by statute case law bring clarity. Very few statutes cover every possible ambiguity or are void of any interpretation issues. If legal actions are not filed and thus no case law, we are left with substantial uncertainty. That void is then filled by whoever has the most power at that moment.
I bring this up because in my efforts to stop SB97 and SB98, I have been suggesting that this is one of the many reasons to stop liquor laws from changing. If the ABC is supposed to enforce existing laws and for whatever reason no cases have been brought, then what is really going on in this government regulated industry?
Based on my 8 years of owning Longhills Wine and Spirits I have had conversation with the ABC Directors and the Enforcement Director, Distributor sales reps, Arkansas based suppliers like Post Wines or Crystal Ridge Distillery, numerous people who support the industry and lot of store owner in part due to being on the board of UBRA. All of this has led me to believe that these statutes are not being properly followed.
If I were litigating a statute the first thing I would want to know is what was the intent. An example, in the case of issuance of a permit. Issuance of permit came up in yesterday in a the State Agency hearing on SB3 due to the fact that there was language that included Diversity of Ownership. Currently the issuance of a permit states the “Alcohol Control Division shall consider lack of diversity in ownership and financial interest in the geographic area at issue in the permit application the benefit of competition to consumers.”
Timothy C Hutchinson, the original sponsor of this current bill, was contacted recently and was asked what he was trying to accomplish with it. In summary, it was to prevent multiple ownership of family or family network from controlling too many stores. The language is congruent with this idea. A control group would obviously have a variety of actions they could take to gain advantages.
Currently the ABC is also charged with Marijuana. Marijuana and Alcohol share the same enforcement team. What alarms me is this. For marijuana, there are enforcement initiated, for alcohol there are NONE. With marijuana, random surprise inspection that include careful review of invoices. With Alcohol I must convince the ABC enforcement director to investigate another permit holder. With marijuana the Growers are also subject to enforcement initiate review. Distributors are my supplier. It’s on me to convince the enforcement director to investigate.
The ABC was established to create a safe and fair distribution of Alcohol. It is my firm belief there are unintended consequences that reduce competition and that hurts consumers, force small business owners to either cheat or sell their stores. I believe liquor store permit turnover is accelerating due to these factors.
Some basics. I can only buy from an Arkansas distributor. In my world 90% of what I sell are purchased from Glazers or Central Moon. Of that 90%, about 60% to Glazers and 40% to Central Moon. Glazers has operation all of the country and Central Moon is locally owned by the Hastings family. These companies have exclusive rights to sell products. If I want to sell Crown Royal I MUST buy it from the Glazers. Is this a free market environment? The one store ownership rule can’t be avoided by some fancy organizational structure.
ABRA is the other Liquor store owner association, made up of county line stores. Their position is they support SB97 and SB98. I want to say that somewhere behind the scene, and many of you have heard about, there is an agreement between WMT and ABRA, that if ABRA will support SB97 and SB98 WalMart has promised that for 10 years it will not allow Wet/Dry petitioners to set up at any of their stores. I wonder what both the dry advocates and the wet advocates in those counties would think about this leverage WMT is employing?
I believe competition is great for the hard-working people of this state. I believe in the law. I also believe in free markets but when there are laws created by this body but there is not accountability the effect on the basic tenants of free markets are completely lost. SB97 and SB98 are coming soon. I will be at the next Rule’s hearing on both, God willing.
John Kelly 5
Longhills Wine and Spirits
Read the text transcript of Mr. Kelly’s video. It’s skipped forward to start at 1:15:
are here in in downtown Little Rock at
the Arkansas state capitol as you can
see there are people headed up the
stairs there’s a a meeting at 1:30 so it
may get a little loud in our background
but that’s fine
um I’m here with John
Kelly there he is and he’s going to be
the one talking to us today he uh he
told me about a bill or two bills
actually sb97 and sb98 that uh may make
it hard for some local small businesses
so I’m going to turn the camera around
on him but spot lot on him no pressure
John and we’ll see what he has to say
let me turn this
around okay there he is is hi Seline
County thank you so much for spending a
little bit of your time I appreciate
jelly giving me this opportunity um I
have some uh some things I wanted to
talk to you about uh there are two bills
that are going on in the legislature
right now Senate Bill 98 and Senate Bill
97 they’re both in movement they’re
moving throughout the house and the body
and so uh we’re trying to educate the
the public and particularly in this case
Selen County about these bills I’m not
here to ask you to agree with me I’m I’m
here to to help share the information
and some of the Dynamics and kind of the
side notes that go along with this
legislation um I believe it hurts small
businesses this legislation is being
pushed very strongly by Walmart um and I
think the
legislation drives towards greater
monopolization um you know if if the
retail liquor stores of Seline County
are vulnerable who’s next I mean is it
going to be a hair salon business is it
going to be the roofing business um
Walmart is clearly behind this bill uh
and behind the scenes it’s very
interesting to I think to understand is
there is things going on outside of just
the bill uh Abra which is a an
association of County Line stores has
has made a deal with Walmart to not
fight this bill so Abra the County Line
Store group is saying we’re not fighting
this bill we’re going to try to help
Walmart the answer the question is for
what what are they getting out of it
well it’s common knowledge throughout
this body that that Walmart has made a
deal with the county line stores to help
them now how does a county line store
helped the county line store is helped
when Walmart pledges to do everything
they can to stop any wet dry initiatives
in this case they’re promising to the uh
Abra the the county line stores 10 years
of their support to prevent help prevent
any any uh wet dry initiatives
that’s that’s a lot of power they have
so so the the bills that they’ve got
coming through the S sp97 and S sp98 are
those what exactly do they say what does
each one say a great question let me get
to the basics of them um s sp97 is
referred to as the the permit expansion
bill and it’s designed with the idea
that well instead of only being able to
have one store you can now have three
the details are that this builds only
allocates that to specific counties
meaning plasy County Washington County
and Benton County of course Washington
and bent are in Northwest Arkansas where
Walmart is is is home so effectively
it’s it’s expanding that the the other
bill which is uh sb98 has to do with
third party delivery they are looked to
be run together the third party Bill
simply says uh a change a substantial
change in the law the law currently says
that only liquor stores in liquor store
employees can deliver alcohol that was a
newer bill that came out when uh Co hit
this bill changes that dramatically it
not only allows for third parties to be
hired it also expands it to now beer
wine in convenience and grocery store
all liquor stores can deliver through
third parties like Amazon or door Dash
the
alcohol okay so they would need to train
give specific training to those
employees I’m thinking yes in order for
them to leave alcohol at your doorsteps
in that within that bill are are are the
Dynamics of that the ABC would then be
required to initiate a training program
and these thirdparty delivery services
would would be required to to bring
training to their to their employees
that are delivering okay it’s a it’s a
part of the bill it it makes sense but
I’ve got some other comments about that
a little bit later okay okay so so the
the point with the idea that Walmart is
using their their power in dry counties
really hits me hard I mean if you think
about for example Seline County Walmart
wanted the bill to be in Seline County
some people didn’t but they helped the
bill get in there but now they’re
they’re doing the exact opposite thing
in trying to get these two bills out of
the Senate they’re they’re taking people
in fler county in Mono County in the
adjacent counties that are that are dry
now and basically saying we’re saying to
the a folks the county line stores we’re
going to we’re going to help stop your
most important concern which is the
counties right next to your store going
wellet and I think that’s something for
not just the people of slen County to
think about but also for the rest of the
state to consider about what what is
going on here because that is not in the
bill however it is behind the scenes and
again this isn’t just some random
statement that I’m making the
legislature for for the most part are
very aware of
this okay so just just while you’re
going to your your next Point um if
somebody wants to talk to their
legislator or someone else about it uh
we’re going to put that in the comments
um and we’re going to have an article
later on myeline um and uh just so
people know uh this this is a this is a
paid adver advertisement so we’re you
know my Selen is just learning about
this today I’m just learning about this
today um and U but we want to we want to
give people the opportunity to talk to
their legislators about it do you know
where these bills are right now in the
process uh yes um at the at this very
moment as I understand this would have
been updated as of last night so I don’t
know what exactly has happened today but
the the third party delivery bill was
has gotten held up which is 98 it’s
gotten held up in the broader City and
the the 97 the expansion because they’re
trying to be run together is not being
yet heard in the house committee the
house committee is going to be the rules
committee that’s going to decide are we
going to move this forward and allow the
full body of the house to vote on it and
so um you you bring a point about
getting about reaching out well the
within the site of the Arkansas
legislature you can get a lot of
information and uh I would encourage
yall to find out first who your senator
who your senators and representatives
are and all of them at this stage as I
understand it either are are going to
weigh in in the next few days or are
going to wage maybe a week from now
votes on these two bills right and and
we’ll have a link to the the bills
themselves too so people can read
through it and see for themselves yes I
I thought it’d be helpful to understand
some of the and maybe a revisit some of
the very issues that I’m talking about
in a written format so yes we’re going
to we’re going to get that out too right
gotcha okay and and what else did we
need to talk about well I I think some
points that I’ve been making to the
legislature that are also in the text it
has to do with ABC and ABC enforcement
now this this seems like it’s just a
side note of saying well the ABC you
know uh I’m not trying to blame the
people at the Abc I’m trying to point
out the the focus that is going to be
needed in order
to make sure that all the rules are
being followed by everyone and and my my
complaint is not with the ABC it’s it’s
with the Dynamics around enforcement now
let me let me speak to that with regards
to this particular set of bills it it is
it is unappropriate illegal whatever you
want to call it under ABC rules for for
companies to join together to share
product the The Leverage that most
people would say Walmart might have is
the ability to buy on a national level
well the factory matters it is illegal
for them to buy or negotiate or get
pricing other than what it is that that
they’re buying for that individual store
so now with
sb97 we’re asking the ABC to make sure
that Walmart in it is only getting deals
based on the volume of its one store
not the volume of all three stores and
not being able to negotiate on a
national level and tell the local
Distributors what they’re you know
having having people like anheiser Bush
tell golden eagle that this is what
you’re going to sell this to Walmart for
that that’s a that’s a leverage point
it’s against the rules it’s it’s very
it’s very detrimental and the reason I’m
saying that is is that because you are
not allowed to Group by and and the and
it’s it’s the other problem that I’m
having with the ABC is unlike marijuana
alcohol so folks like myself are are are
having to go to the enforcement
directors provide them information on
our competitors before they will
initiate any any review any enforcement
any any investigation with marijuana
that’s not that way at all and the same
enforcement people that deal with Mar
want deal with alcohol and I believe
that they are substantially unfunded in
sta so uh John I don’t know if we said U
you’re you’re the owner of U Long Hills
yes ma’am Long Hills wine spirit on
Highway 5 and I I asked you uh on the
way here to the capital if you had
spoken to any other uh local liquor
store owners um and and if so what were
their feelings on this yes well the the
yesterday I reached out with to Carl who
owns bitt
uh terrible tragedy they lost their
store Carl is I was very impressed he he
was committed to small business he was
committed to to disclosing this he was
engaged he’s been reaching out to the
Mayors uh one of the reasons that he
reached out to the mayor was the fact
that the way this is set up if Walmart
gets what they want they’re going to
have Amazon whoever they they choose to
deliver their stuff to be able to not
just deliver thing the the the Walmart
in West lck or in lck in plasy county is
not going to just be reaching into plasy
County to make deliveries they’re going
to be reaching into Seline County I know
that my customer base the way the crow
flies is not very far from West lck and
what that’s going to create then is a
loss of revenue for the city of Benton
for the city of Bryant and for the the
county of Celine and I want the leg the
the people that represent Seline like
like senator mcke and Senator Hammer to
be aware of this and I want y’all to be
aware of it well we would hope that it
it wouldn’t uh if this you know came to
pass if it if this bill these two bills
passed we would hope that it it that it
wouldn’t hurt business small businesses
but it kind of seems like how how could
it help um if if they do if they are
able to take over uh some things that
you currently do and that no one else
can do um as as a as a liquor store
owner do you uh do you do a lot of
deliveries no we did not set up a
delivery system and but the people do
but but but there are stores that have
okay and and and I that that’s their
choice we just at this stage decided not
to part of the dynamic that I’ve been
dealing with as an owner is the idea I
have a successful store I would like to
have a bigger store but with all the
legislation that keeps coming just like
this legislation that makes real threats
to the profitability of my store I’m
scared to death to
expand and so yes the the delivery from
West from plasy County into Seline it
may might not be a huge detriment but
it’s coming and my concern is not just
for this bill but for the concerns of
any small business I mean the
legislature needs to support small
business if you believe that then it’s
important to pay attention to when
they’re off and and to try to understand
all the
Dynamics so you you definitely want your
Lo your local people uh who know what
they’re talking about and humble brag I
just came back from Paris and there were
all these little shops that were
dedicated only to Wine uh and they had a
Somalia in there that’s somebody that
knew what they were talking about to
very specific very detailed things about
the wine so you could just walk in and
ask them a question and they would know
exactly what you want uh or or give you
a taste or you can’t do that with Amazon
or with a delivery you’re not going to
get a taste you you know so there are
some things that just off the top of my
head that I can think of that would
change sure uh if if you were to use a
service like that um and I don’t I don’t
know if Amazon and Walmart are the only
ones that would do that maybe others but
um those are the ones I think of um and
I I think we love our small businesses
and and I’m a small business so that’s
that’s why I uh I you know you called us
and said can you help can you help with
this to get the word out and I can’t I
can’t help with legislation I don’t have
any pool there I don’t have a lot of
money to help you in that way but I do
have a lot of viewers and I I just want
them to be uh involved like you are I
think it’s great that you’re you’re
coming out and you’re talking to uh the
legislators you’re talking to uh other
elected officials and people like you
and getting the word out um so is there
is there anything else that we need to
know of course like I said we’re going
to put the the links to the bills and to
uh to contact your your local
legislators yes well uh yeah we are
going to put some things out and and I
would just say Shelly you know it’s a it
seems like a very unimportant task to
we’re not much power but collectively as
a community we have power and that power
can be exercised in the way things are
set up speak learning and speaking to
your representatives about your opinion
those people were elected to listen to
you so I have a store in Seline County
those people listen to me I I live in
malm and those representatives are at
least giving me some of their time but
it’s important that we as a community in
be active because really the the reality
of it is that activity is helping the
legislators the more more the public
takes the time to understand issues the
more they can help direct the
legislature to act on their what they
believe is their best interest and most
importantly the best interest of
community when I was when I was talking
to some people that I had donated money
to at a nonprofit in in Seline County
they indicated that nowadays they can’t
get money from these big box stores and
National franchises it’s the local folks
that are actually doing most of the
financial support
and by taking away by taking away a
little bit they’re taking away margin
and if you’ve ever owned retail it’s
that last bit of of Revenue that you get
is where the profit is because you spent
so much money paying the fixed cost
right right so and you made a good point
too you can’t care about it if you don’t
know about it and and if there are
people that are interested in this and
hopefully you will be if you watch this
video if you look in the comments and
the article we’re going to put out later
then hopefully people will uh at least
you know type an email to your
legislator uh if you don’t know about
things ask them about things that you’re
that you’re interested in if this is one
of those uh let them know that you want
to know more about it and you want to uh
you know give them your your piece of
advice if you have not okay not a piece
of your mind but some advice a
suggestion recommendation sure and I can
said at the start I don’t want people to
decide that they I don’t make a decision
on their issue I’m just asking that they
look at it and they speak out right yeah
respectfully
respectfully they can well uh like I
said we’ll put things in the comments
I’m going to flip around to me we’ll put
things in the comments to help you to uh
come back to the information in this and
I hope you’ll if you weren’t able to
watch the video now know a lot of you
are at work I hope that you’ll watch it
later uh before you know uh The Wheel of
Fortune comes on
and and share it around and again we’re
going to have some more stuff in the
comments for for you to look at thank
you thank you bye
•
