As “Sine Die” — the adjournment of the Virginia General Assembly — nears, legislators are tying up loose ends with a little less than a week to go.
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.
Marijuana
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. Feeling they did not have enough time to work through all of the complex issues, House Republicans ultimately decided to “carry-over” the Senate bill for the 2022 Session, which ends debate for now. The issue will be studied over the Summer.
Virginia Wine Distribution Company Study (HB1336, Robinson)
The Latest: The bill passed the Senate and House unanimously and now heads to the Governor for his approval.
Background: The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild attempted to get legislation introduced 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 that consists of wineries and wine distributors, limits on the volume and operates at a deficit, so requires an annual state appropriation. It’s run out of 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 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.
Cocktails-to-Go
The Latest: Both bills passed both chambers with broad support and are on their way to the Governor for his approval.
Background: HB426 (Bulova) & SB254 (Bell): As COVID raged and restaurants were shut down, Gov. Northam loosened restrictions on “alcohol-to-go” for spirits by Executive Order to offer retailers a lifeline. The 2021 General Assembly allowed for that policyto 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
Latest: The bills passed both chambers with broad support and are on their way to the Governor for his approval.
Background: HB455 (Knight) & SB519 (Lucas): 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. Knight and Sen. Lucas have led those efforts and introduced bills establishing a casino ABC license, which the VBWA supports.
And in case you missed it…
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.
