• It's been a busy week with both the House and Senate getting to work.  As expected, both parties highlighted issues of importance to their respective bases with the House GOP passing the Gov's $1 Billion tax cut, passing "election integrity" bills and killing all the Democrats gun control bills. In the Senate, the Democratic majority killed all GOP drafted bills restricting abortions, passed a constitutional amendment protecting gay marriage and put the Gov's tax cuts on life support. There were really no surprises by most political observers.  We can expect more of the same next week as it's the last full week before the legislature hits the critical "crossover" deadline on Feb. 7th.

  • The 2023 General Assembly Session has wrapped up the second week of its "short" 45-day session.

    Overall it was a very good week for bills that could impact the Three-Tier system - a key one was defeated and another, to allow for limited distribution by breweries, is moving accordingly. Listed below are highlights of those bills of interest to our industry. Should you want more details, you can go directly to the bill summary, history, and text by clicking the bill number.

  • The 2023 General Assembly Session gaveled in this week on Wednesday, January 11, for a "short" 46 day session...

  • Before we kickoff what is sure to be one of the wildest election years in Virginia history, in which all 140 seats are up for grabs, first thing’s first: the 2023 Virginia General Assembly convenes today with a Republican-controlled House of Delegates and Democratic-held Senate.

    At the Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association, here’s where we are focused as we head into this short session (at least 30 days in odd years, though the session is highly likely to be extended).

  • As we reach the end of an eventful General Assembly session, I am proud of the work our Board and members have done to promote our industry’s interests at the Capitol. Your efforts and support helped us play a part in promoting some bills, making the case for more study for others, and playing a role in defeating legislation that would have harmed our members and run counter to the Three Tier System ...

  • Last week was another busy one for committee action as the House and Senate worked to complete their dockets before today (March 7), the final day to advance a bill for consideration by the full body. The focus after today will be on the budget bill and final floor actions on legislation.

    Below are highlights of some of the bills that the VBWA team is following. Bills that were listed on previous reports, but since defeated or amended to where they no longer impact beer distributors are not listed.