It was standing room only in Room 172 of the Montana State Capital building today for the House of Representatives’ Business and Labor Committee hearing on three beer-related bills. After nearly four hours, only one thing remained clear: the tension and simmering anger that dominated the 2013 session has not dissipated, it has merely shifted…
In the waning days of the 2013 Montana Legislative Session, the House of Representatives took up a joint House/Senate resolution that made practical sense. House Joint Resolution No. 18 would have created a legislative interim study committee to review Montana’s system of alcohol licensing and make recommendations for change to the 2015 Montana Legislature. The…
The Montana House of Representatives’ Business and Labor Committee will take up three beer-related bills this Friday, February 6, at 8:00 a.m. in what will be a very action packed hearing. A fourth alcohol-related bill is also on the schedule. For those wishing to participate in person, the hearing is scheduled to take place in…
With competing beer licensing-related bills headed for a hearing before the Montana House of Representatives’ Business and Labor Committee this Friday, February 6, a new coalition of brewers and industry participants has formed to support an alternative to the Montana Tavern Association/Montana Brewers Association’s license-stacking bill. Calling it the Coalition for Beer Fairness, the group…
The House Business and Labor Committee of the Montana Legislature has scheduled HB 326 and HB 336 for hearings on Friday, February 6, at 8:00 a.m. The bills represent different approaches to an issue facing the brewing industry. HB 326, dubbed the “Montana Brewers Act” is supported by a coalition formed between the Montana Tavern…
The text of the bill to raise the 10,000 barrel cap for on-premise sales at brewery tap rooms is now available. You’ll find the text of the bill, currently known as LC2093, at this link. (Or click on the bill itself below.) The bill will receive a new designation once it is introduced in the…
At long last, the text of the Montana Tavern Association’s and Montana Brewers Association’s collaborative bill was released late Friday. Industry members in all tiers (and craft beer fans) can finally judge the potential effect of the bill, something not previously possible despite months of press releases and other media correspondence touting broad based support.…
The game of politics is one filed with points and counterpoints. For 2013, the Montana Tavern Association stayed under the radar before launching an all out offensive against the craft brewing industry. When that effort was defeated, the various alcohol industry groups spent the next 1.5 years searching for common ground in Montana’s alcohol licensing…
The Montana Beer and Wine Distributors Association (MBWDA) announced today it has withdrawn from a coalition of alcohol industry groups over a disagreement with the Montana Tavern Association’s and Montana Brewers Association’s plans to seek changes to alcohol licensing requirements during the 2015 Montana Legislative Session. For background on the proposed “license stacking” bill, see…
An “historic coalition,” as its being billed, took center stage at the Montana Brewers Association Fall Conference in October in Missoula to discuss a proposed bill to allow license stacking in the alcohol industry. The bill, expected to be introduced at the 2015 Montana Legislative Session, would effectively allow breweries to directly purchase a retail…