This week, the Virginia General Assembly convened its every-other-year 60-day “long” session. More new legislators were sworn in than are returning incumbents. Of the 140 members of the Senate and House of Delegates, 56% were newly elected in November.
What does this mean for the legislative session?
As much as industry groups will want to push their legislative goals, the real mission for everyone is to forge relationships. That has been well underway for us at VBWA for the past year; because of our members’ efforts, the vast majority of new lawmakers statewide have visited our warehouses to learn about the three-tier system, meet our people, and see our supply chains in action. Members have attended countless events to establish these important relationships with the next generation of Virginia leaders.
(An important sidenote: of those new faces, one is Al Pugh Distributing’s Hillary Pugh Kent in the Northern Neck, who crushed her race with over 66% of the vote.)
That work will continue when wholesalers return to the Capitol on February 8 for our annual Day on the Hill and legislative conference.
These relationships will be developed inside a new General Assembly Building, which was completed last year and is the site of House and Senate offices and committee meeting rooms (goodbye, Pocahontas Building). I have personally toured the new building and can say firsthand this is a place that should make you proud to be a Virginian.
It’s my hope, too, that a fresh building and faces means a restart for everyone — a reprieve from unending transitions and partisan battles, a callback to the Virginia Way of decency, and is a moment where we can come together and serve as a model for other states and our nation to follow. (Here’s hoping, at least.)
But in seemingly ever-changing times, Virginia beer and beverage distributors have remained steady and continue to be well-positioned with legislators.
Victories and change at ABC
It was an active second half of the year at ABC, where a couple of important decisions were made — one has at long last been resolved, and the other is headed to appeals. Our counsel Kevin McNally has a look at the Vinoshipper and Boston Beer cases and what it means for our members.
ABC is also in its own period of transition, as CEO Travis Hill stepped down in November and some other leaders there have moved on in their careers. We are and remain actively engaged with ABC, which for the first time is fully staffed with five compliance officers after many years of staff shortages. Our members are reporting increased enforcement statewide, which is crucial to the Authority’s ability to carry out our shared missions of consumer safety.
Finally, I want to remind everyone that we recently hired full-time general counsel, former Delegate Mike Mullin. We celebrate the Nov. 27 birth of Mike and wife Rebecca’s son, Samuel. They have been blessed with four sons, Daniel (13), Henry (10), William (8), and the late Peter (forever 4 months). Meet Mike in our recent interview and podcast.
As we enter 2024, I feel strongly about the position of Virginia’s wholesalers, the direction of our association, and the strong state of the Commonwealth. Together, we’ll continue to lead the way for this great industry.
Philip H. Boykin
President & CEO
Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association
