In the remaining two weeks of the General Assembly Session the focus is on the all-important budget bill, the master document that governs all state spending. The House and Senate released competing versions with major differences on tax cuts and spending. And as noted below regarding DOLI, the budget is important for reasons not all related to funding as the language included affects many policies and governing laws in the Commonwealth. The Senate and House budget conferees must create a compromise budget before the body can adjorn Sine Die.

As usual during Session, we are meeting weekly with the VBWA Board of Directors to review bills and receive advice on strategy to determine VBWA’s adopted positions.  Listed below are highlights of those of interest introduced to-date. Should you want more details, you can go directly to the bill summary, bill history and bill text by clicking the bill number below.

Please let us know if you have questions about the bills listed or want to discuss anything else.

DOLI Emergency COVID Regulations

The Governor sent down budget amendments that would repeal the permanent DOLI COVID Regulations while the Administration went through the Administrative Process Act (APA) to repeal them. As a reminder, the Administration has started the APA process to repeal the regulations and DOLI’s board voted not to enforce them during the repeal process. The APA can take up to 2 years, so the Administration wanted them repealed by the legislature as soon as possible so that there could not be litigation attempting to enforce the regulations during the regulatory repeal process. Working with our coalition, the VBWA lobbied for the language amendments. While the amendment did not make it into the Senate Finance Committee’s proposed budget released on Sunday, Sen. McDougle put forward the amendment on the Senate Floor when the budget came up for a vote with the support of Sen. Chap Petersen. Knowing the votes were on the floor to adopt the amendment, Senate Finance Chair Janet Howell endorsed the floor amendment and it was adopted unanimously.  The COVID DOLI Regulations will now be fully repealed once the budget is signed into law by the Governor.

Virginia Wine Distribution Company Study

HB1336 (Robinson)

Latest: The bill was voted out of Senate Rehab unanimously this morning and heads to the floor for final passage next week.

Background: The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild attempted introduce legislation that would have allowed craft breweries to sell their beer through the Virginia Wine Distribution Company (VWDC). The VWDC is a program run by the Department of Agriculture that allows farm wineries access to the market without going through a traditional wine distributor. It has a Board consisting of wineries and wine distributors, limits on volume, and operates at a deficit — and therefore, requires an annual state appropriation. It’s operated by the Department of Agriculture because it’s a way to support wineries, which are agricultural businesses. While the VBWA has long committed to having a conversation about including beer in the VWDC, we did not support the proposed legislation or approach that the Guild was attempting to take.

What we did support was legislation that requires the Department of Agriculture to study both if and how beer should be included in the program, as well as other aspects of the craft beer market. As introduced, the VBWA supports the alternative bill and looks forward to working on the issue over the summer. The bill passed the House last week without a negative vote.

Cocktails-to-Go

HB426 (Bulova) & SB254 (Bell)

Latest: Both bills passed their respective chambers with broad support and are on a fast track to the Governor for his approval.

Background: As COVID raged and restaurants were shut down, then-Gov. Ralph Northam loosened restrictions on “alcohol-to-go” for spirits by Executive Order to offer retailers a lifeline. The 2021 General Assembly allowed for that policy to continue on a temporary basis when the Executive Order expired and agreed to study making the policy permanent. The VBWA was part of the workgroup that studied the issue over the past year. That workgroup proposed extending the current “cocktails-to-go” policy for two more years so we can fully evaluate what the unintended consequences the policy may have on public health.

New ABC Licensing Privileges

HB455 (Knight) & SB519 (Lucas)

Latest: Both bills are on a fast track to the Governor for his approval.

Background: Casinos are now legal in Virginia and preparing to open in the months ahead. As such, they’ve been working with the broader ABC community to develop a customized ABC license that makes sense for how they operate. Del. Barry Knight and Sen. Louise Lucas have led those efforts and put in bills establishing a casino ABC license, which the VBWA supports. The bills were reported from Committee and passed their respective chambers with broad support.

Marijuana

Latest: A special subcommittee in the House heard the Senate bill last night and delayed on acting on the bill until next week. There is lots of uncertainty as to what will happen since things have to play out a bit. The VBWA is monitoring and will report anything that could impact beer distributors.

Background:There were over a dozen bills introduced impacting how the Commonwealth will move forward with cannabis sales. None of the House bills made it out of committee and the Senate rallied behind a bill that would allow cannabis pharmaceutical operators to sell to the general public starting this year until a more traditional retail structure could be set up to create a legal market.

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