Better Beer for Jefferson County on the Horizon
It was a good day for the Jefferson County local bill yesterday, as it passed the House of Representatives by a margin of 30 to 6. Shortly thereafter it received its 1st Reading in the Senate, which allows it to be passed by the local Senate committee this week and thus get its 2nd Reading in the Senate on Thursday.
Then... it all boils down to what the Senate does on their last day, Tuesday of next week. We have great hopes that they will continue functioning at the minimal level they have been recently and continue passing local bills. If so, get ready for a celebration as all your favorite restaurants, bars, and beer retailers in the metro Birmingham area will start carrying stuff like Terrapin Imperial Pilsner, Celebrator Dopplebock, and Chimay Grand Reserve.
As happy as I will be to see such great beers at the stores near my own home (and I will be very, very happy, I assure you), I will take just as much satisfaction in knowing that Jefferson County will become undeniable, unignorable, unequivocal proof that all the baseless fears of the anti-alcohol opposition were completely without merit, and their arguments will have much more difficulty finding a legislative ear willing to listen when we once again introduce a statewide bill in 2008. Jefferson County's success in legalizing better beer will just be the prelude to the whole state following.
But I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch. It's not a done deal. And if this session has taught me anything, it's that the Alabama Senate is completely unpredictable. Unless your prediction is that they will keep fighting amongst themselves and remain hopelessly locked in a power struggle. That one's pretty safe. But we can't assume they will keep passing local bills in these last couple of days. Keep your eye on them.
One more note, we had hoped Mobile and Baldwin County local bills would pass committee yesterday, but they didn't. They do still have a chance this session. I will have more to report on their status later today.
We Never Had A Chance
Our statewide bill, that is. The Senate adjourned yesterday without working a special order calendar, which was our only hope of getting our statewide bill passed this year. A special order calendar yesterday was the only hope a lot of people had for seeing very important legislation passed this year, as yesterday was the last day that the Senate could consider its own regular bills. They must devote the last three days of the session to addressing bills that have already passed the House, which of course includes the budgets. And probably won't include much else other than the budgets. And the way things have been going, I wouldn't bet the family farm they will even pass those. Here's an editorial by the Montgomery Advertiser that summarizes where things stand: Senate still faces major problems
So there you have it folks. Little did we know when this session began that we never had any hope of passing the Gourmet Beer Bill statewide. There is nothing we could have done; it was not possible. The Senate didn't pass any regular bills (with a couple of exceptions for HUGE issues like the Thyssen Krupp incentive package).
It doesn't matter that we didn't pass the House BIR vote on April 3rd. If we had, our House bill would be one of hundreds now vying for a shot at consideration by the Senate in the final three days, and we wouldn't have stood out from many more important issues that I'm sure won't see light of day in the Senate this year. But that House BIR vote did rally our support base and resulted in tremendous education about our issue among House members. We have received a lot of feedback from State Representatives that if the Senate had done its job and passed our bill this session, it would easily have passed the House.
But that's water under the bridge. We must now look forward, and right in front of us we have an opportunity for success with some local bills. A Mobile county local bill (HB851) has passed the House and now has a chance to pass the Senate, where local bills do have a chance in the final days. And a Baldwin county local bill (SB352) has passed the Senate and now has a chance to pass the House. And a Jefferson county local bill (HB728) has passed committee in the House, will pass the full House Tuesday, and has a chance to pass the Senate on the final day of the session. I urge everyone who lives in these three counties to call your Representatives and Senators in the next few days to urge them to make sure these bills pass.
And if the Senate continues its fighting and gets little or nothing done in these last few days of the session, get ready for the special session. I've heard from a couple of different sources that Governor Riley is determined to call a special session even if the budgets pass during the regular session because the Senate stalemate resulted in a lot of broken campaign promises on issues like PAC-to-PAC transfers and ethics disclosure reform. These are issues he believes need to be addressed in 2007, and so a special session is likely.
That's good news because we can get local bills passed in a special session. That will include the Jefferson and Mobile local bills if the Senate doesn't get them passed during the regular session, and will also include Madison and Montgomery local bills, which didn't get introduced during the regular session this year.
So better beer still has a great chance in Alabama this year. And next year, after almost a year of higher alcohol beer being sold in major metropolitan areas, our opponents will be able to see first hand that their arguments were baseless and all their fears will be proven misplaced. So getting a statewide bill passed in 2008 should be easy. Relatively speaking.
Your Guess Is As Good As Mine
Senate majority moves state budgets forward
This blog isn't concerned about whether the Lt. Gov's actions yesterday were legal or not. I'll let you all worry about that on your own time. What concerns us here is that the Senate is moving. Business is being done. The word now is that the budgets will be passed during the regular session, and no special session will be needed.
I have an open line of communication with our lobbyist, and he remains hopeful that we can get at least our local bills passed before the session expires; possibly our statewide bill, too. Nothing is a guarantee at this point because the Senate has gone off the deep end and we can't predict what they'll do.
Just wanted to throw out a quick note that it looks like a special session may have been averted, and we are working to get things done right now. I'll post again as soon as I know more.
Local Bills On A Roll
The Mobile county local bill passed the House today. We proved the House will pass an ABV limit increase. Of course, it won't have any impact on citizens in Mobile unless the Senate breaks from deadlock and starts passing bills, which did not happen today. Four days left.
The Jefferson County local bill is first on the agenda for the local committee tomorrow and we expect it to pass committee easily. Then it can come up for a vote on Tuesday and pass the House by a similar vote count as the Mobile local bill. But again, it's just a shot in the arm for our morale, not a victory that affects AL citizens, unless the Senate starts doing business.
No matter what happens, this all bodes well for us, as it shows that our issue can pass the House and we will get another chance to make it happen via local bills in a special session if it comes to that. At that point, we'll get a chance to reach final passage in the legislature and Trappiste ales, barleywines and imperial stouts will become legal for a large percentage of Alabama citizens. Then the rest of the state will follow next year.
In spite of the frustrating BS going on in the Senate, today was a good day for us and worth celebrating.
Cheers.
Last Chance
Riley says deal means budgets, bonds can pass
This is it folks. Once again, there is talk that a compromise has been reached. We've heard it all before, and thus far nothing has come of it.
But if. IF it holds together, it is possible SB211 could squeak through the Senate in the next few days and hop over to the House for final passage.
I'm not holding my breath, but I will be watching the Senate very closely today.
Deep Sigh
Prospects for special session grow with Alabama Senate fight
Another attempt at compromise falls apart. If the Senate doesn't pass any bills, the Gourmet Beer Bill will be one of several hundred not passed.
All we can do is continue to wait and hope for the best. Also, be encouraged that we could still see some success in 2007 during a special session. While regular bills cannot be considered during a special session (our statewide bill would have to wait until next year's regular session), local bills can be considered during a special session.
So if the Senate doesn't get its act together, we will take steps to re-advertise local ABV bills in Madison, Jefferson, Montgomery, Mobile, and Baldwin counties, and those areas could see the limit lifted in 2007.
I'll continue to post more frequent updates here, and send out a newsletter when something more concrete is known.
Coming Down To The Wire
Today was day 25 of 30 legislative meeting days this session. The House convened and did business; the Senate was in recess, trying to work out a compromise that would allow them to pass some bills here at the very end of the session. As soon as I hear anything about a confirmed compromise, I'll post it here.
What that means for the Gourmet Beer Bill is that we still have a chance this session. If the Senate reaches a compromise during recess today or tomorrow or even Monday, they could convene on the 26th legislative meeting day Tuesday and have 2 days (Tuesday and Thursday) to pass their own bills to send to the House. For those two days, they will only be considering Senate bills, as they are required to deal with bills passed by the House for the final 3 days of the session, which would include the budget.
Our Senate sponsor Parker Griffith is firmly committed to doing everything he can to get our bill considered at whatever point the Senate starts passing bills. So we could very well see the Gourmet Beer Bill come up in the Senate next week, be passed, and make it to the House the following week.
This is all very complicated, so I hope I haven't lost you. And it gets more complicated before it gets any clearer. You see, not passing the House BIR vote on April 3rd has turned out to be a good thing. It may be hard to believe, but it's true. If we had passed that BIR, we would have passed the House, and then the Gourmet Beer Bill would be one of well over 200 House bills fighting to the death for consideration by the Senate in the final days of the 2007 session, along with the State budget. Folks, the Senate isn't going to get the budget and over 200 other House bills passed in 3 days.
In contrast, there is no backlog of Senate bills waiting to be considered by the House. The Senate hasn't done anything this session. At most, they are only going to pass a handful of bills next week that will go on to be considered by the House the following week. And the House can only consider Senate bills in those last 3 days just as the Senate can only consider House bills in those last 3 days. Because the Senate hasn't done its job this session, the House will largely be left twiddling its thumbs toward the end of the session. They will have just a few bills from the Senate to look at, and with any luck, the Gourmet Beer Bill will be one of them.
There again, the House BIR disaster that took place on April 3rd has been turned in our favor. That event and the audio recording we released in its wake really energized the FTH support base. All of you were justifiably outraged at the gross misinformation that Representatives were using to argue against our bill, and you got on the phone and on the keyboard and made calls and sent letters, and the result is that a tremendous amount of education has taken place among members of the House regarding our issue. Because of you.
We were only 3 votes short of passing the BIR the first time around. In light of the improved understanding of our issue as proven by feedback we've heard from Representatives themselves, we firmly believe the Gourmet Beer Bill will pass the House if given a second chance this year.
It all boils down to whether or not the Senate decides to pass some bills this year. If they reach a compromise before the next time they convene, I believe you'll see the 6% limit raised in Alabama this year. If they remain deadlocked, then we never had a chance. A lot of important legislation will die this year if they remain stalled for the remainder of the session.
And the citizens of Alabama will be outraged.
Good Luck Mississippi, But Please Don't Beat Us
The bell tolls for the 6% law in MS.
http://www.msbrew.com/2007/05/want-to-help-change-mississippis.html
A grassroots organization is forming there, and they are going to get legislation introduced--probably in 2008--to shed that vestige of Prohibition that plagues their fine state just as it plagues ours.
I wish them the best of luck, and have already offered to help them in any way I can. I hope Free The Hops' efforts in a neighboring state have helped blazed the trail and might make their campaign a little easier.
But guys: please don't beat us.
I'm afraid if our Senate doesn't rise above the personal vendettas that are keeping it frustratingly deadlocked, we won't get the chance to pass the Gourmet Beer Bill this year in Alabama and may have resort to another attempt in 2008. At which point MS might beat us to the punch.
Alabama, don't let it happen. Everyone, call your Senator today and urge him or her to work toward a compromise. There's a lot more than the Gourmet Beer Bill on the line. A tremendous amount of legislation to help and improve Alabama has passed the House this year, and none of it can become law if the Senate doesn't start passing bills.
Let's get this thing done, folks.