—HB 5368 Overtuning CT Wine Shipping Ban Gets Hearing on March 6th—
(HARTFORD, CT)—Connecticut lawmakers are poised to take the first step in repealing the state’s ban on consumers receiving winew shipments from out-of-state wine retailers. House Bill 5368 will receive a hearing on Tuesday, March 6th in the General Law Committee. HB 5368 would give Connecticut consumers access to wine shipments from out-of-state wine retailers, wine-of-the-month clubs and auction houses in the same way they currently may receive shipments from out of state wineries.
In addition to overturning the anti-consumer ban on receiving wine shipments from out-of-state wine stores, the bill would also provide the state with additional tax revenue. The bill requires out-of-state wine stores that obtain a wine shipper permit and to remit sales tax as well as records of how much wine was shipped into the state. All shipments would be required to have a sticker indicating alcohol is in the box as well as obtaining a signature from an adult prior to delivery.
STATES ANTI-CONSUMER, PROTECTIONIST WINE SHIPPING LAWS NEED REFORM
“The current ban on consumers receiving shipments from out-of-state wine retailers is an anti-competitive and anti-consumer vestige of laws passed in the 1930s,” noted Tom Wark, executive director of the National Association of Wine Retailers. “It’s a different era now with hundreds of thousands of wine available in the American marketplace, but only a small minority of those available in Connecticut stores. HB 5368 would allow Connecticut consumers access to all wines available in the United States.
The National Association of Wine Retailers (NAWR), a collection of independent specialty wine retailers that sell rare and hard to find wines, supported a similar bill last year that eventually died in committee. NAWR along with the state’s wine lovers will support HB 5368. The benefits of HB 5368 include:
• Overturning a decades-old anti-consumer and anti-free market ban on wine shipments
• Giving CT consumers access to hundreds of thousands of wines currently unavailable in the State
• Generating additional tax revenue for the state
• Removing the threat of litigation resultinig from an unconstitutional ban on wine shipments
• Significant safeguards built into the bill deterring minors’ access to wine
About the National Associatiion of Wine Retailers
The Natiional Association of Wine Retailers represents independent specialty wine retailers from across the country that focus on sales of rare, hard-to-find and collectible wines. NAWR advocates for the modernization of alcohol beverage laws to create a well-regulated system of wine sales that recognize the need for an anti-protectionist, pro-consumer, free market system of alcohol regulation. For more information on NAWR go to https://nawr.org.
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CONTACT:
Tom Wark, Executive Director
National Association of Wine Retailers
707-266-1449 • [email protected]