So this past Wednesday the ABC Board met to finally vote on the new proposed rule change that would require the consumer to give up some personal information and be kept for either auditing or review by the ABC Board. Firstly Free the Hops would like to personally thanks each and every one of you who took time out of your day to contact the ABC and comment on the proposed rule change. This goes to show that the people can still effect change in their government by speaking up and speaking out.
Saying all of that the ABC ultimately decided to drop the requirement, but stated that it’s still the law. So what does this mean for the consumer and for the brewery? Well, confusing to say the least. What we hope happens is that it will be status quo and will not be enforced until the law they are sighting can be amended to remove some ambiguous language that the ABC Board deems to be the law. The law in question is a 36 year old amendment to the Alabama State Constitution from 1980. The law is Alabama Code Title 28. Intoxicating Liquor, Malt Beverages, and Wine specifically title 28-3A-6 subparagraph E which states
(e)?Every manufacturer shall keep at its principal place of business within the state, daily permanent records which shall show the quantities of raw materials received and used in the manufacture of alcoholic beverages, and the quantities of alcoholic beverages manufactured and stored, the sale of alcoholic beverages, the quantities of alcoholic beverages stored for hire or transported for hire by or for the licensee and the names and addresses of the purchasers or other recipients thereof. – See more at: http://codes.findlaw.com/al/title-28-intoxicating-liquor-malt-beverages-and-wine/al-code-sect-28-3a-6.html#sthash.ZkG1mUgA.dpuf
Now again this law is from 1980 and in no way was meant to represent collecting data from the consumer. I will have to look back in my history book but I am pretty sure that there was not a brewery in the state during this time (please correct me if I am wrong). So again the ABC Board has ruled to drop the personal information issue, but has stated that it’s in the law to require it. This means that a new bill will need to be proposed in the next legislative session to amend the law said above.
Mike Cason from al.com has reported on Wednesday that Senator Holtzclaw was in attendance and said that he would attempt to try and take up the change needed in the 2017 legislative session. Free the Hops will also do our part in helping push for this. Again in closing we want to thank each and every one of you again who wrote the ABC board during the last 45 days, thank you very much!
