Alabama Attorney General Opinion 1979-0089

CHARLES A. GRADOICK ATTORNEY GENERAL Honorable R. J. Probate Judge Houston County Dothan, Alabama THE ATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF ALABAMA • MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36 DO0g9 Stembridge 36302 Licenses - Blue Law Act requiring grocery store to buy special license and meet other requirements in order to stay open on Sunday is constitutional. Dear Judge Stembridge: Acknowledgement is made of your request for the opinion of the Attorney General as to the following matter: Is Act No. 365, approved by the Legislature in November, 1976 valid and/or constitutional in requiring a grocery store to obtain a special license to operate on Sunday and to pay $25.00 for said license? Your question is to be answered in the affirmative. Act No. 365 of the 1976 Legislative Session allows grocery stores in counties with a population of not less than 56,500 or more than 59,000 to stay open on Sunday provided that no more than four (4) employees are on duty at one time and a special $25.00 permit or license is obtained. Act No. 431 of the 1966 Special Legislative Session is nearly identical to Act No. 365, supra, except in population range of the counties to which the acts apply. Although the Supreme Court of Alabama did not directly address the issue of whether it was con- stitutional to require a grocery store to buy a special license to remain open on Sunday, it ruled in Caiola v. City of Birmingham, 288 Ala. 406, 262 So. 2d 602 (1972) that Act No. 431, supra, was constitutional and did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The Court said that the differentiations in the type of grocery stores that can be Honorable R. J. Stembridge Page 2 operated on Sunday under an act making legal the Sunday operation of grocery stores having four or less employees on duty upon obtaining the required license were not purely arbitrary and without a reasonable basis. The differentiations were said to be within the wide scope of discretion allowed the legislature in determining such matters and did not constitute unconstitu- tional discrimination. Therefore, Act No. 365 of the 1976 Legislative Session re- quiring a grocery store to obtain a special license and meet other requirements in order to stay open on Sunday is constitu- tional and valid. If our office can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.' Very truly yours, CHARLES A. GRADDICK Attorney General J. LINDA F. KNIGHT Assistant Attorney General LFK/sg