—National Association of Wine Retailers Endorses Texas Representative Rinaldi’s Direct Wine Shipping Bill HB 2291—
(Austin, TX)—With the introduction of HB 2291, Representative Matt Rinaldi confirms his position as a champion of consumers and free trade and an opponent of protectionist economic policy. The National Association of Wine Retailers enthusiastically endorses HB 2291, which, if passed, would finally allow Texans to buy and have shipped to them wine from out-of-state wine stores.
Under current Texas law, Texans may have wine shipped to them from Texas wineries, Texas wine stores, and out-of-state wineries. However, current law, endorsed by the state’s middlemen wholesalers, bans Texans from having any wine shipped to them from out-of-state retailers.
Among the many detrimental impacts of this protectionist law is Texans being unable to buy and have shipped to them any imported wines since in the U.S. only wine stores may sell imported wines such as those from France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and other wine producing countries.
The discriminatory ban on Texans having wine shipped to them from out-of-state retailers also deprives them of joining wine-of-month clubs, buying from wine auction houses, purchasing rare and hard-to-find domestic wines, and accessing a slew of kosher wines not available in the state. Finally, the ban on Texans buying wine from out-of-state retailers deprives the state of Texas of legitimate and needed tax revenue.
“Representative Rinaldi’s HB 2291 is a wish come true for thousands of Texans who have long been denied the ability to purchase the wines they want and to those who value free and fair markets,” said Tom Wark, executive director of the National Association of Wine Retailers. “While we expect the forces of protectionism and anti-free trade to oppose the bill, we look forward to it seeing a hearing and ultimately passing.”
The National Association of Wine Retailers represents wine stores, Internet wine retailers, wine auction houses, wine clubs and associated businesses located across the country. For more information see www.nawr.org.
# # #
CONTACT:
Tom Wark, Executive Director
707-266-1449 • [email protected]