Well, this is the week. The 2010 Alabama Legislative Session begins. Many Alabama home brewing and winemaking enthusiasts (outlaws because of our enjoyment of a craft that people in 47 other states legally enjoy) are very optimistic and worried at the same time.
We’re optimistic because we managed to secure a Senate sponsor on our own last year without a paid lobbyist. Instead of paying someone to line up legislators who we really don’t have a relationship with and who typically wouldn’t return our calls if we tried to discuss a bill with them, we were very excited to have Senator Larry Dixon of Montgomery step up and carry our bill. And he did this for us after only two things happened: First, he met some of us and sampled some Alabama homemade beer at the 2009 Tourism Bash sponsored by the Alabama Tourism Committee (He really appreciated the Belgian Tripel). And Second, after we made our case to him and asked him to sponsor our bill, he readily agreed. That’s it. Just those two things. There were no PAC-to-PAC transfers and no lobbyist spending of $250/day unreported. Just genuine constituent representation in a state where things typically work much differently.
And not only is Senator Dixon agreeing to carry our bill in 2010, Rep. Mac McCutcheon is agreeing to carry the bill in the House. What’s happening here is something homebrew hobbyists can be proud of. We have a promising outlook for 2010, in spite of the fact that it’s an election year. Imagine that… an election year and we have an awesome Senator and an awesome Representative who are agreeing to help us on a bill that can be easily maligned and misconstrued. Bravo to Senator Larry Dixon and Representative Mac McCutcheon.
But at the same time, we’re pessimistic because of the way things are in Montgomery. There are things that can happen that would be very much outside of Senator Dixon and Representative McCutcheon’s control. All it takes is someone’s willingness to create a logjam, something that seems so easy to do in Montgomery. There’s always opponents, and some who say they’re supporters can easily stab you in the back in secret. That’s the way it is. It’s very much *not* typical to see that “good old constituent representation” in Montgomery. Go down there and see for yourself. Paid lobbyists literally line the hallways. If you’ve ever witnessed it and later sit and recollect, you can easily recall them slithering in and out of the offices. And if you pay attention to what’s happening on the House and Senate floors, you see common sense trampled, and occasionally in the heat of things you can get lucky and catch a legislator looking from the podium to lobbyists in the hallway for guidance. Man, the spigot is open down there.
And then there’s the Southern Baptists and the Alabama Citizens Action Patrol. With them, it’s not so much about money as it is their longstanding dominant influence in Deep South culture and their inclination to want to control the lives of others rather than simply walk with God themselves and be an example to others. Its similar to the way Budweiser Distributors control anything that happens with beer legislation in Alabama. It’s not so much that they want to honestly compete for the loyalties of consumers as to legislatively control market share.
But yet here we are again, a handful of ordinary citizens… simple hobbyists who enjoy a home-based craft similar to the way others enjoy gourmet cooking and competitive barbequeing… rallying, and often sacrificing considerable time and effort, to secure what we feel is a basic civil liberty. And we have two representatives in the Alabama legislature who are willing to give us a voice, not because we’ve funneled large amounts of cash into their campaign funds and lavish trinkets on them, but because we’ve made our case to them that what we’re after is the respectable enjoyment of a down-to-earth hobby. That is really something that Alabama’s brewers and winemakers can be proud of.
If you’d like to be on the Auburn Brew Club’s mailing list to find out from time to time how you can help in Alabama’s legalization efforts, please contact us.
As a Part II to “A History of Alabama Homebrewing Legalization Efforts,” which provided an overview up to the beginning of the 2009 session, here’s a list of milestones, good and bad, that occurred between that writing and now, the beginning of the 2010 session.
- The roots of homebrew club activities in Alabama were traced back to 1983.
- We continued to ask Senator Little to sponsor our bill following his letter of August 29, 2008, in which he relayed the Legal Advisor to the Governor’s position that Governor Riley would veto any alcohol related legislation that did not provide for a referendum vote. We simply wanted a bill introduced by one of our own representatives in order to make some type of progress. Senator Little continued to decline, expressing instead his preference for a generic initiative and referendum bill. Even though he declined to sponsor our bill, Senator Little did provide helpful advice and other assistance throughout the 2009 session.
- The Montgomery Advertiser ran a front-page, top-of-the-fold article on homebrewers’ struggle to find a bill sponsor. This article was published on a Thursday, a day when every legislator receives the Montgomery Advertiser on his or her desk.
- Utah became the 46th state to legalize homebrewing, leaving only Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and Oklahoma.
- Alabama home brewers and winemakers hosted a Tasting for Alabama Legislators. Approximately 70 people attended, including senators, represenatives, legislative staff and an Alabama ABC official. No warnings were issued and no citations were issued.
- The day following the Legislative Tasting, a House Representative who had attended promised to sponsor our bill in the House.
- Alabama homebrewers again serve delicious Alabama homemade craft beer to legislators and other state and local officials at the 2009 Tourism Bash, sponsored by the Alabama Tourism Council. We were informed afterward that a beer wholesaler lobbyist in attendance had complained to other sponsors about our presence, and that complaint made its way up to Tourism Bash officials.
- Senator Larry Dixon introduces Alabama Senate Bill 492 to permit the production of beer, mead, cider and wine for personal and noncommercial uses, without tax or license.
- Gary Glass of the AHA discussed Alabama homebrewing legalization on the Brewing Network
- On March 26, 2009, SB492 passed the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee Favorably by a 7-0 vote.
- The House Representative who had many weeks earlier promised to sponsor our bill in the House, changed his position after keeping us hanging through most of the 2009 session, leaving us no time to initiate with a new potential sponsor and dooming the effort to introduce the bill in the Alabama House that year.
- We pushed to get a vote on the Senate Floor.
- Researchers at Auburn University’s College of Human Sciences (Department of Nutrition and Food Science) initiated a study on “Homebrewing as a Serious Leisure Pursuit”
- We finally made it onto the Southern Baptist’s radar.
- The Mobile Press Register published an article on Alabama homebrewers’ efforts. Alabama ABC officials state in interviews that they are not interested in prosecuting typical hobby homebrewers.
- In late 2009, the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) provided their interpretation of Kentucky law as permitting the home brewing hobby inside one’s home for personal use, making Alabama one of only 3 states remaining where the home brewing hobby is illegal post-Prohibition.
- The Rocket City Brewers host two educational events attended by Alabama House Representative Mac McCutcheon, in whose district many RCB’rs reside. Rep. McCutcheon contemplated sponsorship carefully, conferred with Senator Larry Dixon and ultimately decided to help homebrewers in the House, along with a large number of other co-sponsors.
- In early January, 2010, we were informed by the Alabama Tourism Council that their Planning Committee had decided against extending an invitation for homebrewers to participate in the 2010 Tourism Bash for legislators, citing the initial objection raised in Committee as the complaint raised in 2009, and further supported by a new objection that homebrewers cannot sell their products and present no tourism draw to Alabama.
Obviously, there’s some negative items in the history, but we’ve really got nothing to hide and no reason not to tell it like it is. We’re just a bunch of ordinary people who like to brew beer and make wine, very often of much higher quaility than can be purchased. We don’t have a central organization. We’re autonomous local homebrew clubs. And we don’t have a paid lobbyist.
And as unlikely and as contrary to the status-quo as it may be, we’ve got some really positive things happening. For example, yesterday, the very first day of the 2010 Legislative Session, Senator Larry Dixon introduced SB153 to permit the production of homebrewed beer, mead, cider, and wine for personal use and facilitate organized tasting and judging events. To be out of the gate on the first day of the 2010 session is really amazing. Homebrewers can truly be proud of this progress and proud that they haven’t sacrificed their integrity in the process.
Stay Tuned (and keep your fingers crossed)!
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Filed under: Legal Issues
We need your help! Please contact the members of the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee and ask them to send SB153 (permitting the home brewing and winemaking hobby in Alabama) to the Senate floor.
