MADISON, WI (MetroSource-WSAU) Outgoing state Attorney General Brad Schimel believes wedding barns should be required to have liquor licenses if patrons are going to consume alcohol. Schimel issued a non-binding legal opinion earlier this month.
There are some professional banquet halls that have complained that they are losing wedding business to smaller upstarts that don’t have the overhead of getting liquor licenses and don’t have to comply with alcohol serving rules. Many of the wedding barns have ‘bring your own bottle’ policies or are loosely regulated in rural parts of the state.
The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty said Monday that Schimel's analysis is too broad and puts wedding barns at risk of shutting down. Some wedding barns are used infrequently and may have trouble meeting the licensing requirements. It is likely one of Schimel's last legal opinions. He failed to win reelection in November, and has been appointed as a circuit court judge in Waukesha County.
The matter may either be clarified by the state legislature, or be appealed into the state court system.
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