RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - An effort to delay last calls at restaurants and watering holes in and around Charlotte during next year’s Republican National Convention has been shut down by the North Carolina House.
A bill debated on the House floor on Wednesday would have extended alcoholic drink sales in Mecklenburg County from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. around the convention. Drinking could have continued until 4:30 a.m.
The provision was removed after House Democratic leader Darren Jackson of Wake County said it could lead to more impaired-driving crashes and set a poor precedent for other major in-state events. There was no such extension at the 2012 Democratic convention in Charlotte.
The scaled-back bill that returned to the Senate after a floor vote still allows out-of-state police officers to work at the convention.
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