House Bill 58 easily passed through the House Business and Labor Committee (19-1 vote) followed by the full House of Representatives (70-29 vote). Even the Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee passed it out of committee on a 7-3 vote.
When the bill came up for second reading on the Senate floor, comments from several legislators appeared to indicate some confusion regarding what the bill would regulate. The chief complaint, however, was the sense that the bill would regulate something that needed no further regulation: the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol was already covered under other laws, so why add more?
In the end, the vote on second reading failed 20-30 and was followed by a successful motion to indefinitely postpone it. Thus, HB 58 is not technically dead (since it did not fail on Third Reading), but it is highly unlikely the bill will get further consideration and has been put into the "probably dead" category.
As the sponsor noted at the first committee meeting in the House, declining to adopt the new license does not prohibit brew-on-premises businesses. It merely means they may move forward without any specific Montana regulations governing the operations.
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1 comments:
The Montana Tavern Association is attempting to destroy any and all competition. That has, and will always be, their goal. I have a friend who owns a state liquor store & he can attest to their practices. What the MTA still fails to realize, however, is that the patrons they claim to be losing to brewery tap rooms, for the most part, don't go to their establishments. Speaking personally, I go to a bar if they serve micro brewed beer, serve good, reasonably priced food and have a nice atmosphere. I do not go to bars that have casinos out in the open. A couple of smart bar owners have now put their casinos in enclosed rooms, and a couple of them get my business, but again, only because there is micro brewed beer served. I don't go to bars that haven't been remodeled in 20 years & still smell like smoke & look like a dive bar. The other exception that might cause me to go to a local bar is if there is a musician or band I want to hear. There are 2 bars in Billings that I go to occasionally, one is *next door* to a brewery AND only has craft beer on tap.
I go to microbreweries to have a few pints and spend time with my friends. It's a social occasion. The tavern owners have no clue how to appeal to me & my friends, and likely, they never will.
The 60/40 legislation needs to be stopped, period.
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