Legislative

This page is designed to help you learn more about our legislative efforts and progress in Montgomery. The form and link below can be used to find out more about where your elected officials stand on our legislation including their voting record as well as how to contact them to help move our agenda through the legislature.

Option 1 - Search by address Address: City: State: AL (Do not abbreviate) privacy statementFree the Hops does not actively archive or store your address and will never share the information entered into this form without your consent except where required by law.

Option 2 - You can see all elected officials who affect our legislation here.

The Brewery Modernization Act

After passage of the Gourmet Beer Bill in 2009, Free the Hops decided to focus on brewery and brewpub reform. The intent of our legislation is to make easier and more profitable to open and operate a brewery in Alabama. Unfortunately, after passing the state Senate, the Brewery Modernization Act was not put on the agenda in the state House of Representatives in 2010.

The Brewery Modernization Act can be read here ^[pdf].

The Gourmet Beer Bill

Before passage of the Gourmet Beer Bill. the alcohol by volume (ABV) in beer sold and brewed in Alabama was limited to 6%. The first agenda for Free the Hops was to increase that limit to 13.9% ABV, thus allowing a wide variety of new craft beers to enter the market.

On May 22, 2009, Governor Riley signed the Gourmet Beer Bill into law. This completed our first legislative agenda for reforming Alabama's beer laws. In order to become law, the bill needed to pass a BIR (Budget Isolation Resolution) with a 3/5 supermajority and a final passage vote with a simple majority in both chambers of the state legislature and be signed into law by the Governor.