Many Georgia communities vote on earlier Sunday drink sales

Bottoms up.

Every metro Atlanta community that held a referendum Tuesday on allowing earlier Sunday alcohol sales appeared to approve the measure.

Senate Bill 17 — the so-called "Brunch Bill" or "Mimosa Mandate" — passed through Georgia's legislature earlier this year, giving local governments the opportunity to call referendums on allowing Sunday drink sales to start at 11 a.m. rather than 12:30 p.m. A total of 87 counties and cities across Georgia added such referendums to Tuesday's ballots, according to the Secretary of State's Office. About 30 of those communities were in the immediate metro Atlanta area.

Referendums held in Cobb, DeKalb, Forsyth and Gwinnett passed by significant margins. City of Atlanta voters also approved the measure.

Voters in several other cities did so as well. Those cities included Acworth, Alpharetta, Austell, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, College Park, Duluth, Hapeville, Kennesaw, Marietta, Milton, Peachtree Corners, Powder Springs, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, South Fulton, Stone Mountain, Tucker, Union City and Woodstock.

Local governments can establish their own dates for earlier sales to start, should their referendums pass.

--Reporter Ben Brasch contributed to this article.

About the Author

Georgia considers stiffer penalties for fentanyl possession and trafficking

Georgia lawmakers are taking aim at the fentanyl crisis through a bill that would lower the bar for possession crimes and create harsher mandatory minimums for trafficking.