ABV Bill in the House, Tueday 4 March!
HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, is up for vote this Tuesday, 4 March. Now is the time to call your House Representative and let him or her know that you want HB196 to pass!
Especially if you have made previous attempts at phone calls or emails and have not gotten a response, we are now at the point where it is imperative that you speak with your Representative. We need you to confirm that you can count on their Yes vote on HB196 this Tuesday, March 4th. You can be sure our neo-Prohibitionist opponents will be making lots of phone calls between now and Tuesday. Calls from our supporters need to overwhelm the Representatives and drown out the opposition's calls.
Please visit http://www.legislature.state.al.us/ and enter your ZIP code in the box on the left hand side of the page to find out who your House Representative is, then please call them about HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill.
Legislative Update
Members and supporters of Free the Hops,
As some of you already know, our House ABV Bill - HB196 - came out of committee yesterday. The companion Senate Bill, SB116, came out of committee today.
These bills are intended to increase the allowable alcohol in beer to 13.9% ABV in the state. The next step for our bills is to be voted on in the House and the Senate, which could be as early as this Tuesday but probably won't happen until mid-March. I will be sure to update everyone once we know the date.
For an overview of where we are with all of our bills, please take a look at:
freethehops.org/featuredcontent/thesteps.php
How you can help pass our House ABV bill
Please visit the Alabama legislature web site:
www.legislature.state.al.us
there is a box on the left hand side of the screen where you can type in your ZIP code, which will tell you who your House Representative and Senator are. Please call your Representative to let them know you support the bill and would like to see it pass in the House. A telephone call is *the* most effective way to let them know how much you care about the bill!
How you can help pass our Senate ABV and Home Brewing bills
Please call your Senator (see link above) and let them know you support SB116 (the Senate ABV Bill) and SB355 (the Home Brewing Bill), and that you would like your Senator to help pass these bills. Again, a telephone call is *the* most effective way to let them know how much you care about the bill!
I cannot stress this enough: if you, personally, call your House Rep about HB196 (the Gourmet Beer Bill), AND call your Senator about SB116 (Gourmet Beer Bill) and SB355 (Home Brewing Bill), we will free the hops this year! If you are unable to call your Representative or Senator, you can also email or write to them via the Legislature.
Bills and boycott update
Supporters of Free the Hops,
The Alabama Wholesale Beer Association (AWBA) and Anheuser Busch Corporate have stepped in to the fray and have helped negotiate a deal to pass our bill. I have been speaking with the AWBA and the other parties involved and am 100% sure of their commitment.
Once the final wording on our agreement is finalised, we will be proceeding on the basis of a bill increasing the allowable ABV in beer from 6% to 13.9%.
We negotiated this agreement on the basis that the AWBA expressed legitimate concerns about the 14.9% limit, and as the 13.9% ABV limit is one which includes 99 of the top 100 beers we considered this a reasonable compromise.
This compromise ensures the full support of the AWBA and AB Corporate which will be a huge boost to our legislative efforts this year.
I am very excited by this news, and see this as a great outcome for Free the Hops and for the people of Alabama!
As for the boycott, our deal with the AWBA included a commitment on our part to stop actively promoting the boycott and to not take any steps to escalate it further. So we will not be seeking any new businesses to participate. The venues that had already joined the boycott will proceed on the basis of what is best for their business, and we will not be seeking any more venues to join us.
Thank you to every single person who has been involved in spreading the word on the boycott - the intervention by the AWBA and AB Corporate would not have happened without you. I am proud of each and every one of you - thanks :)
Stuart Carter
President
Free the Hops | Alabamians for Specialty Beer