2015 State Legislation Underway

Discussion in 'Southwest' started by TxUltraRunner, Mar 9, 2015.

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  1. TxUltraRunner

    TxUltraRunner Initiate (0) Aug 16, 2012 Texas

    Came across this from Open the Taps:

    http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=8adb971e4868e2c35e262b02e&id=537d561c09

    Some highlights:

    Festivals - We are very excited to be working with Representative Goldman of Fort Worth on this issue. He has been exceptionally helpful in preliminary discussions. We are currently working with legislative staff on specific bill language (this is a complicated issue). As soon as we have a bill number we will let you know!

    Shipping - We have a bill filed that we can support!! SB 719 sponsored by Senator Connie Burton of Fort Worth. This bill will allow direct shipment of beer to consumers, from both in and out-of-state breweries. Her staff is currently working out some issues with the language (this bill covers liquor as well as beer at this point), so don’t get too concerned about specifics in the bill just yet. We are expecting a committee substitute bill in the coming weeks.

    Hopefully, this will be another good year for Texas beer.
     
    #1 TxUltraRunner, Mar 9, 2015
    kwill, Beernerds, tx_beer_man and 19 others like this.
  2. aschwab

    aschwab Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2009 Texas

    I will hope not to get too excited...but it is hard not to be.
     
    #2 aschwab, Mar 9, 2015
    tx_beer_man likes this.
  3. ElChuques

    ElChuques Initiate (0) Oct 8, 2014 Arkansas

    Dang it. I just got too excited.
     
    #3 ElChuques, Mar 9, 2015
  4. Techichi

    Techichi Pooh-Bah (2,061) Sep 25, 2012 Texas
    Pooh-Bah

    Are many breweries doing this? I know there are stores that ship beer, but I've never heard of breweries shipping directly to customers. Seems like it would be a pain allocating beer and money for internet sales. Especially limited and seasonal stuff. However cutting out distributors would probably allow them to lower prices to accommodate for shipping costs. Either way it'd be cool to have the freedom to do so.
     
    #4 Techichi, Mar 9, 2015
  5. aschwab

    aschwab Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2009 Texas

    Cascade did for a while.

    It did not lower any prices.
     
    #5 aschwab, Mar 9, 2015
    starkmarvelo and elWhite like this.
  6. Theortiz01

    Theortiz01 Initiate (0) Jun 7, 2013 Texas

    I believe another bill by Open the Taps was the ability to transport homebrew (shipping them) for contests as well. Even though this is currently done, it is still against the law.
     
    #6 Theortiz01, Mar 9, 2015
  7. nathanmiller

    nathanmiller Initiate (0) Oct 7, 2009 New York

    So the shipping bill is only a preliminary filing. Senator Burton's staff is currently working out the language of the bill to change a lot of the specifics and we believe a more comprehensive bill will be filed as a committee substitute bill. We're very excited about this progress so far.

    And the homebrew bill has also been filed, as HB2546. We're very happy that this has already occurred, and that Representative Springer, himself a homebrewer, is spearheading this effort.

    This is already a good year for OTT and we're just getting started. It's only March!
     
    #7 nathanmiller, Mar 10, 2015
    JJFoodie, Beernerds, nsheehan and 1 other person like this.
  8. jamescain

    jamescain Initiate (0) Jul 14, 2009 Texas

    Who ships beer? I ship yeast samples
     
    #8 jamescain, Mar 10, 2015
    Theortiz01, tx_beer_man, Can_has_beer and 1 other person like this.
  9. SeanLamb

    SeanLamb Initiate (0) Aug 29, 2011 Texas

    Shipping homebrew to competitions is legal, if done correctly, which not many folks worry about. The homebrew issue has been that locations that are licensed under the TX alcoholic beverage code ( breweries, distributors, bars, beer stores ) are explicitly prohibited form being the site of a homebrew competition. So no pro-am events at your local brewery, etc. The change in HB2546 is to remove the "9 words" that prohibit homebrew at licensed facilities.
     
    #9 SeanLamb, Mar 11, 2015
    Beernerds and tx_beer_man like this.
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