From left to right: American Homebrewers Association members Tim Haynor, Tom
Schmidlin (former beer drinker of the year), and Mark Emiley smile as Governor Chris
Gregoire decriminalizes the sharing of homebrew beer with friends. Amazing, isn’t it.
Photo courtesy of the Washington State Senate.
Montana just passed a law which will allow beer to be up to 14% alcohol by volume (before it was max at 7% by weight, about 8.75 % by volume), effective in October. That new limit is conditional. The beer must be built 75% from malted cereal grains, if above 8.75% by volume. If over the 8.75% and less than 75% from malted cereal grains, the beer must be sold in liquor stores.
In Washington State, earlier this month Governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill legalizing the transport and sharing of homebrew permitting homebrewers to submit their beers to homebrew competitions and sharing with friends. Now this might seem like a pretty trivial matter for state legislators to spending their time on, but you must say it was commendable how Washington state legislators responded to constituency needs. A grassroots network led by American Homebrewers Association members
Here’s a summary of other news from around the country, some previously reported in separate Examiner posts:
- Alabama – HB 373, raising the permitted alcohol level of beer from 6 to 13.9% -Signed by Governor.
- Iowa – Legislation raising the permitted level of alcohol by weight of beer to “over 5% under 20%” has been introduced and action is still pending.
On the tax front
there is still pending legislation to raise state taxes on beer in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin
Other miscellaneous beer related tax legislation in the process:
- Arizona – A bill to raise the annual production limit for microbreweries from 20,000 to 40,000 barrels passed committee.
- New Mexico – State Attorney General proposed a ban on caffeinated alcoholic beverages. Does this mean that coffee stouts and porters will be banned in New Mexico? May I please have a Decaf Porter please?
- New York – UPCode and bottle bill Legislation which would have severely impacted availability of beer choices in New York was temporarily blocked by a federal judge late Wednesday. The bill would have significantly expanded recycling, higher fees, a NY only UPC code, and other draconian provisions in New York State beginning on June 1.
- South Carolina – Legislation introduced to allow dual licensure for brewpubs and microbreweries (a brewpub could sell off premise and a micro could sell on premise as long as a distributor is used for off premise).
- Texas – Legislation introduced allowing brewers permit holders to sell limited quantities of beer to consumers on the brewery premises died after a group of wholesalers successfully lobbied to kill this legislation. Pretty lame killing if you ask me.
Above graphic courtesy of www.taxfoundation.org and www.donttaxourbeer.com
Comments
As a Washingtonian and a homebrewer, I think it's great. I am very happy to know that I can't get in trouble with the law for bringing a couple of six packs of homebrew to a party. I have lived in five states so far and I must say, Washington, out of all of them, listens to its citizenry the most.
FYI, Indiana has been considering an increase in beer tax to help a struggling unit of government that owns and operates all the convention and sporting facilities in Indianapolis. The tax was by volume purchased (24 cans x $X vs. 6 bottles x $X), so it would effectively tax macrobrews more. While the bill containing the tax died in regular session, a special session has been called and it is very possible the issue could resurface.
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