Wine & More
Tougher Defense Against Selling To Minor Charges, New Record Keeping For Selling Kegs Are Just Two Provisions Attached To Farm Winery Bill Before Legislature Adjourns.
(Apr 1, 2008) A funny thing happened on the way through the legislature. The fast-tracked farm winery bill lost most of its farm winery provisions as it made its way through the process, but it picked up all kinds of unrelated industry provisions.
As approved by the House in the waning hours of the Legislature’s regular session, House Bill 2908 would make it tougher for licensees to defend themselves against citations for selling to minor. Under the new law, the licensee would have to show that the identification the minor used to show he was of age also included what reasonably appeared to be a photo of the minor.
Under HB 2908 keg registration would also get tougher. The new law would require retailers to keep the purchaser’s picture and signature on file when selling a keg.
Liquor stores would be allowed in unincorporated areas under the provisions of HB 2908. Up to now, liquor stores had to be in cities or in townships of at least 5000 people.
Microbreweries in Kansas would no longer be required to use at least 50 percent Kansas grown agricultural products in brewing their beer under HB 2908.
The proposed new law also lifts the prohibition against consumption of alcohol at Kansas National Guard Armories.
All these provisions were hung on a bill that just wanted to make life easier for farm wineries. By the time HB 2908 made its way back to the House, farm wineries had won the right to sell to temporary permit holders. The bill would also let temporary permit holders sell bottles of wine at the State Fair.
Granted, that’s progress for the wineries. But it’s a far cry from the bill’s original ambitious goals. As introduced, HB 2908 would have allowed farm wineries to sell bottles of wine at farmer’s markets. It would have allowed a person to have more than one winery license and it would have deleted the requirement that wineries use at least 60 percent Kansas grown products in producing their wines.
It was that last provision that got the bill into trouble. Though the measure sailed through the House in short order, Kansas grape growers turned out in force to oppose the measure at the Senate hearing. As a result, the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs stripped out many of the winery provisions and added the other industry measures to the bill.
In the final hours of the Legislature’s regular session, the House voted 116-4 to accept the Senate’s changes to the bill, and the measure appears on its way to the governor for signature.