With blue laws no longer affecting most businesses around them, Pennsylvania's 1,300 beer distributorships should be accorded fair treatment by being allowed to open on Sundays.

That is the goal of legislation that state Sen. Joe Conti, R-Bucks, intends to introduce next week. Hopefully there is nothing in the proposal that would prevent bipartisan support and passage.

Forcing beer distributorships to keep their doors locked on Sundays doesn't mean fewer people are consuming the beverage, that there are fewer drunk drivers on streets and highways, or that more people are attending church. What it does mean is that such businesses are being saddled with a competitive disadvantage - and customers are being denied the opportunity to make their purchases, if Sunday happens to be the day that's most convenient for them, whether they routinely attend church or not.

Bars and restaurants are permitted to sell six-packs on Sundays, many at premium prices; the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board last year began opening dozens of its liquor stores on Sundays.

So, there should be no discrimination against beer distributorships selling their products.

Granted, if people want to buy a case or keg of beer, most times they will find a way to do it within whatever time constraints they are experiencing. But people who enjoy beer should have the right to shop as leisurely as people who choose to buy groceries, or who go to the malls or shopping centers or quick-stop stores, on Sundays.

Retaining puritanical rules for some amid today's busy, fast-paced society, while relaxing the rules for most others, doesn't make sense.

Beer distributorships don't cause the problems resulting from irresponsible drinking; it is the irresponsible drinkers who are not deterred by beer distributorships' "closed" signs on Sundays.

Distributorships and a coalition of brewers, importers and distributors - Modernize Our Beer Laws - are saying that they need help to remain competitive with the PLCB's Sunday openings. But it isn't likely that the PLCB's Sunday schedule has caused the recent lag in beer sales to any great degree. Most likely, people are just choosing to drink less beer, possibly some due to weight or other health considerations and possibly others due to work and family schedules that limit their time for such consumption.

However, beer distributorships are right in pointing to the unfairness and anti-competitiveness of allowing restaurants and bars to sell the same products on which their livelihood depends at a time they are required to be closed.

The fact that state beer-tax proceeds dropped 2 percent in fiscal 2004 and were off an additional 3.8 percent through July and August shouldn't be the incentive for passing Conti's legislation. Passage should be based solely on the principle of allowing beer distributorships the same right to make a profit that others who sell their product enjoy.

Requiring beer distributorships to remain closed made sense when blue laws dominated and other retailers weren't permitted to do business. With the blue laws having been relegated for the most part to history, that restriction no longer makes sense and should be put to rest.

- J.R.K.