Introduction of Bills: The HDA’s Latest Milestone

We have been advised by our lobbyist since the bills were introduced to keep a low profile in order to avoid undue attention by those in the industry who may NOT want to see home distilling legalized, but it looks like the cat is out of the bag…

The Bill Itself

The bill we have been working on to establish parity between hobby distillers, home brewers and home winemakers was rolled into a much larger bill called the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2015 (S.1562), which was introduced to the Senate on June 11 by Senator Wyden (D-OR). Our section falls under Title V – Distilled Spirits, Sec. 502. Exemption of home distillery establishments from certain taxation and bonding requirements. The same bill, also called the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2015 (under H.R.2903), was introduced in the House on June 25. Note that although the bill has been introduced in both the House and Senate, it has NOT been voted on by either one yet. Our fingers are still crossed that it will pass.

Choosing a Strategy to Get Our Voices Heard in Congress

We were advised of this strategy as it parallels the approach home brewers took that led to the passing of H.R.1337 in 1978, which federally legalized home production of beer and wine the following year. The home brewers rolled their bill into a larger bill that would amend excise taxes in the transportation sector. We rolled our bill into a larger bill that would amend excise taxes in the craft beverage sector.

After home brewing became legal federally, home brewers started their campaigns in individual states. Some states did not have their own regulations for home brewing and defaulted to Federal law, which meant that once home brewing became legal federally, it also immediately became legal in those states. We’ve been conducting research into the state laws on hobby distilling over the past couple of months, and we can confirm that we’ve heard back from 40 state offices at this time—of those 40 states, hobby distilling would become legal in 8 of them immediately after it is legalized federally. We’ll have the state information up on our website once we hear back from the remaining states.

The Importance of Using Discretion For As Long As Possible

It was important for us to remain discrete for as long as possible because the public focus of our bill has been on the tax breaks for commercial beer, wine, and distilled spirits producers. Obviously, these tax reductions would benefit “Big Liquor,” so they wouldn’t oppose the passing of this bill. Our hope was that their attention would remain on how the passing of the bill would benefit them and therefore not try to oppose our section.

YOUR Support Got Us Here!

THANK YOU! Because of all of you, HDA members, this is happening. As a group, we are making history, so give yourself a little pat on the back for helping us get to this point. Your dues have been going directly to help pay our lobbyist, who has been working so hard for us in DC over the past year meeting with legislators, drafting language for our bill, and making sure that our voice would be heard. Even as we’ve had to keep details of our progress under wraps over the past few months, you stuck by the HDA and trusted that leadership and our lobbyist were working in your best interests. We are so grateful for each and every one of you.

We worked hard on the introduction of these bills, but this is only the end of the first step: We need to maintain our lobbying effort if we want to see this through! In fact, your help in funding our effort may be even more important now than ever before. The fact remains that lobbyist expenses have far outweighed the funding we’ve received from membership dues. Our section of the Craft Beverage bill that pushes for the legalization of hobby distilling would NOT be there if we didn’t have our lobbyist. That is a direct result of the HDA and our lobbyist’s efforts. As home distillers, we have NEVER been so close to seeing our hobby legalized in the US. Membership dues are vital if we want to make this happen.