Colorado beer change won't head to 2016 ballots

Colorado's largest grocery stores say they won't follow through on plans to ask voters this fall about allowing full-strength beer in more groceries.

The announcement Friday comes after the enactment of a new law allowing all grocery stores to get liquor licenses by 2037. Albertsons, King Soopers and Safeway grocery stores opposed the law, calling the rollout too slow.

The law allows grocers to slowly expand beer and wine sales by buying the licenses of nearby liquor stores. The old law limited retailers to a single license statewide to sell full-strength beer.

The grocers' alliance said before the law was signed that they may still pursue a ballot measure to expand sales. But the ballot measure would not have allowed them to avoid buying licenses from nearby liquor retailers.