This is the final week of the legislative session in Montgomery. In dramatic fashion, the Brewery Modernization Act may come up on the second-to-last or last day of the 2010 session – this Wednesday or Thursday.
SB328 has already passed the Senate and should come up for a vote in the House this Wednesday or Thursday. After that, it goes to the Governor. Now is the time to contact your House Representative and tell them you support SB328, the Brewery Modernization Act. Please do this today. Send an email and/or call. We can’t guarantee you a vote – they haven’t yet finalized their agenda for those days – but we’re working on it and letting them know this is important to you will help. One thing we’ve proved over the years is that we can make a difference.
We are at the cusp of changing our second law to bring common sense and better beer to Alabama. We’re one easy vote away from a pro-business bill that will help grow the brewing industry in Alabama. One vote away from helping our local breweries compete in a nationally competitive industry.
If the House approves and the Governor signs off on this bill, our local breweries like Good People, Olde Towne, and Straight to Ale will be able to offer their fans tap rooms and events at the brewery. Our local brewpubs like Montgomery Brewing will be able to sell their beer outside of the brewpub. New breweries and brewpubs will have an incentive to open in your area as much of the restrictions placed on owning a brewery in Alabama will be reduced.
To learn more about why the Brewery Modernization Act is important to Alabama’s beer consumers, see this blog post. To learn what the current bill specifically changes, see this blog post.
Also, we have been following SB153, the Homebrew Legialization Bill. After an excruciating period of being held up in House committee, this bill may yet make it for its final vote this week along with the Brewery Modernization Act. This is an exciting development. Until very recently, most of this bill’s supporters considered this bill dead for the session. However, the chairman of the House Tourism and Travel Committee recently contacted our lobbyist and told him that he wanted our support to put Homebrew Legalization on the Special Order Calendar this week. He has it.
Tell your state Representative that you support these bills – SB328 (Brewery Modernization Act) and SB153 (Homebrew Legalization) and let me know if you receive any feedback.
