There are still cities and towns in Alabama where you can't buy beer or wine in a store or a drink in a restaurant on Sunday.

But the number of places that hold on to that distinction for Sunday is shrinking.

This year, the Legislature passed 15 bills that clear the way for Sunday alcohol sales in specific counties, cities and towns, according to the Legislature's website.

In most cases, it will be up to city councils or county commissions to act on the new authority to permit and regulate Sunday sales. In some cases, residents will have the final say in a voter referendum.

Joe Godfrey, executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program, a church-supported organization that lobbies against legislation that expands the availability of alcohol, said the trend to allow Sunday sales will cause problems that outweigh any potential economic benefit.

"The more restrictions we remove from alcohol, the more alcohol-related problems we're going to have because alcohol is an addictive, mind-altering drug," Godfrey said.

Some lawmakers who sponsored the bills said they did so at the request of the local governments in their districts.

Four of the 15 bills affect Colbert County. The cities of Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia and the town of Littleville will have Sunday sales if their councils approve.

State representatives from the area, Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia and Johnny Mack Morrow, D-Red Bay, sponsored the bills.

Black said there had been talk in those cities about Sunday sales last year, and this year the cities all decided to make their move.

"They all passed resolutions asking that bills be introduced," Black said.

Rep. K.L. Brown, R-Jacksonville, sponsored a bill to allow Sunday sales in Jacksonville, if the council approves. Like the Colbert County cities, Brown said the Jacksonville City Council passed a resolution asking for the bill.

Brown said he had previously worked with three other Calhoun County cities, Anniston, Piedmont and Weaver, on legislation to allow Sunday sales.

Brown hasn't sponsored a bill allowing Sunday sales in Oxford because he said opposition remains among the leadership of that Calhoun County city.

"They all need to be on board to do it," Brown said.

Brown said he has not received many negative responses for sponsoring the Sunday sales bills, but has received some. A minister from Oxford spoke out against one of the bills, for example.

Brown said a better approach might be to pass a single bill authorizing Sunday sales countywide and leaving it to the discretion of each city whether to exercise that authority.

Two bills that passed this year take the county-wide approach to authorizing Sunday sales.

A bill by Rep. Becky Nordgen, R-Gadsden, applies to Etowah County. It allows the Etowah County Commission to call for a voter referendum on Sunday sales in unincorporated parts of the county. It allows city councils to call for voter referendums on Sunday sales in cities.

A bill by Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Montgomery, allows Elmore County cities and towns to approve Sunday sales and allows the county commission to approve Sunday sales for the unincorporated parts of the county.

Ingram said he agreed to sponsor the bill only after the Elmore County Commission brought him a unanimous resolution. He also said it was a matter of competitive fairness for Elmore County merchants, since neighboring Montgomery and Autauaga counties had Sunday sales.

Counties and cities have to go to the Legislature for permission to allow alcohol sales on Sunday because of a state law that says it's illegal to sell alcoholic beverages after 2 a.m. on Sunday except when authorized by a separate law.Cities, towns and counties affected by a Sunday sales bill that passed this year:

Jacksonville

Thomaston

Lincoln

Athens

Stevenson

Etowah County

Elmore County

Florence

Troy

Littleville

Tuscumbia

Sheffield

Muscle Shoals

Eufaula

Clayton

Updated at 4:46 p.m. to add comment from Rep. Reed Ingram.