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Kentucky · Snapshot 09/05/2026

KRS 244.290: Sales of distilled spirits or wine when polls are open permitted in wet or

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Where this section sits in the code
  1. KRS Chapter 244

moist territory -- Power of local governments to regulate -- Sunday sales.

(1) (a) A licensee authorized to sell distilled spirits or wine at retail shall be

permitted to sell and deliver distilled spirits and wine during the hours the

polls are open on any primary, or regular, local option, or special election day

unless it is located where the legislative body of a city, urban -county

government, consolidated l ocal government, charter county government,

unified local government, or the fiscal court of a county adopts an ordinance

after June 25, 2013, that prohibits the sale of distilled spirits and wine or

limits the hours and times in which distilled spirits an d wine may be sold

within its jurisdictional boundaries on any primary, or regular, local option, or

special election day during the hours the polls are open.

(b) This subsection shall only apply in a wet or moist territory.

(c) Notwithstanding any other p rovision of the Kentucky Revised Statutes to the

contrary, the fiscal court of a county shall not by ordinance or any other

means:

1. Supersede, reverse, or modify any decision made pursuant to this

subsection by the legislative body of a city within that county; or

2. Impose an action upon a city within that county when that city has taken

no formal action pursuant to this subsection.

(2) In any county containing a city of the first class, or a city with a population equal to

or greater than twenty thousan d (20,000) based upon the most recent federal

decennial census in which the sale of distilled spirits and wine by the drink is

permitted under KRS Chapter 242, an election on the question of permitting the sale

of distilled spirits and wine by the drink on Sunday may be held as provided in KRS

Chapter 242.

(3) Except as permitted by KRS 243.050 and subsection (4) of this section, a licensee

authorized to sell distilled spirits or wine at retail shall not sell or deliver distilled

spirits and wine between mi dnight and 6 a.m. or at any time during the twenty -four

(24) hours of a Sunday.

(4) (a) A licensee authorized to sell distilled spirits and wine at retail may sell and

deliver distilled spirits and wine on Sunday and during the hours and times as

permitted by local ordinance of the legislative body of a city, urban -county

government, consolid ated local government, charter county government,

unified local government, or the county with local jurisdiction. These

ordinances shall not prohibit the sale, gift, or delivery of distilled spirits or

wine between 6 a.m. and 12 midnight any day, except Sunday.

(b) A licensee authorized to sell distilled spirits and wine by the drink at retail

may sell distilled spirits and wine by the drink on Sunday and during the times

and hours as permitted by a local ordinance of the legislative body of an

urban-county government, consolidated local government, charter county

government, unified local government, city, or county with local jurisdiction.

The ordinance shall not prohibit the sale or gift of distilled spirits and wine by

the drink between 6 a.m. and midnight during any day, except Sunday.

(5) In any territory containing a licensed small farm winery that is permitted to sell

alcoholic beverages under KRS Chapter 242, the sale of alcoholic beverages at the

small farm winery on Sunday may be permitted if:

(a) The legislative body of the local government having jurisdiction approves by

local ordinance the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sunday in strict accordance

with the sales permitted by KRS 243.155 on the licensed premises of a small

farm winery during the hours and times as permitted in the local ordinance; or

(b) A limited sale precinct election on the issue of Sunday sales is approved after

meeting the requirements of KRS 242.1241.

(6) In any county containing a city of the first class or in any city loca ted in that county

in which the sale of distilled spirits and wine is permitted under KRS Chapter 242,

the distilled spirits administrator may issue a license to holders of a quota retail

drink license or a special private club license that permits the sal e of distilled spirits

and wine by the drink on Sunday from 1 p.m. until the prevailing time for that

locality.

Collected 2026-09-05T20:52:55Z. Source file · JSON

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