Kansas Grocery and C-Stores Fight for Full-Strength Beer
Kansas grocery stores are lobbying lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow full-strength beer and wine to be sold in supermarkets and convenience stores, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Grocery and C-stores are currently allowed to sell low-alcohol, 3.2 percent ABV beer.
Kansas House 2282 bill is modeled after one passed by voters in Oklahoma. Proponents of the bill argue that current Kansas laws stifle economic growth and limit a retailers ability to meet consumer demand.
In fact, Dick Stoffer, director for state government relations for Hy-Vee, told the House committee that the state’s archaic laws are the reason his company hasn’t expanded in the state.
“Dollars made in Hy-Vee are put back into communities that we go to or where we are existing,” Stoffer reportedly told the committee.
North Carolina Brewers Oppose Law Requiring Them to Sign with Distributor
North Carolina brewers are hoping to change a state law that requires suppliers to sign with a wholesaler once they hit 25,000 barrels of beer a year, according to an editorial in the Charlotte Observer.
The editorial board writes that the state’s $1.2 billion craft beer industry has been stifled by the law. Of note:
“It’s a rigged system, and it might already have slowed the state’s brewing growth,” the board wrote. “According to the craft beer Brewer’s Association part, that’s because the state’s most renowned craft brewers – including Charlotte’s NoDa Brewing and Olde Mecklenburg Brewery – are discouraged from crossing the 25,000-barrel threshold and losing money.”
In 2015, North Carolina craft brewers lobbied behind a pair of bills (House Bill 625 and House Bill 278) that, if passed, would have bumped the cap to 100,000 barrels. Both bills failed to make it out of committee.
The Charlotte Observer editorial board recommends raising the cap to 100,000 barrels. Read the full piece here.
Nebraska Craft Brewers Fight Bill Limiting Craft
Nebraska brewers are challenging a proposed omnibus bill that features a come to rest provision, which would force wholesalers to deliver beer back to their distributorships before delivering it to retailers. The bill would also require brewers to make beer at each of their locations.
State Sen. Tyson Larson told the Omaha World-Herald that he proposed the changes after attempts were made to circumvent the three-tier system through a bill that he championed the year before.
Larson cited a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision that the state cannot favor in-state producers over out-of-state companies.
“There have been concerns,” Larson told the outlet. “I can’t mention who, but there are serious concerns.”
The paper noted that Larson has accepted more than $2,500 in campaign donations from Anheuser-Busch InBev since 2011 and about $14,000 from the state’s distributors association and distributors since 2010.
Read more about the effort here.
Florida Legislature Considers Booze Sales at Chain Stores
A bill that would allow large chain retailers such as Walmart to sell hard alcohol is currently being reviewed by Florida legislators, the Tallahassee Democrat reported Wednesday.
Currently, sales of vodka, whiskey, gin and other spirits are limited to independent liquor and package stores, like ABC Liquors, who oppose the bill.
Surprisingly, however, those liquor store owners have the support of the state’s largest grocery chain, Publix, which operates 775 stores and would “face a major remodeling of stores and a possible restructuring of leases if the bill were to succeed,” according to the outlet.
The bill (HB 81), introduced to the House Careers & Competition Subcommittee by Rep. Bryan Avila, was approved by a vote of 8-7 on Wednesday. It is now in the “Government Operations and Technology Appropriations Subcommittee.”
Growlers on the Docket in Minnesota
Some of Minnesota’s most popular breweries could soon be allowed to sell growlers of beer to go, if a new bill introduced by Rep. Drew Christensen is passed.
Under current state law, breweries that produce more than 20,000 barrels of beer annually are forbidden from selling the glass jugs, which are often purchased by brewery visitors after a facility tour.
“This law put an unnecessarily restrictive ban on one of Minnesota’s fastest growing industries,” Rep. Christensen said via a release. “Small breweries and brew pubs have brought new jobs to Minnesota and grown our economy. We should remove this restrictive, job-crushing regulation on these small businesses. I am happy to carry this legislation that will allow our small breweries to continue to sell growlers.”
If passed, the bill (HF 1078), introduced on Monday and referred to the Commerce and Regulatory Reform Committee, would lift the cap to 250,000 barrels.
Only five Minnesota breweries — Surly Brewing, Fulton Beer, Summit Brewing, Schell’s Brewery and Third Street Brewhouse (Cold Springs) — currently make more than 20,000 barrels each year and are restricted from selling growlers.