Alabama Homebrew Legislation 2013

Williams 728
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congratulations to the Good People of Alabama!

I'd raise a homebrew in salute, but it's 8 friggin o'clock in the morning

doesn't mean you guys can't!

instead, I just pitched some WLP041 into my DB 8 Point clone :mug: here's to homebrew in the Heart of Dixie!
 
I hope nobody minds, but I am going to post this again so that it doesn't get lost. (I'm sure Huff will post the same link in a while too :))

This is important. If you are in AL do this!

WHEW! NOW TELL BROTHER BENTLEY TO SIGN THE DARNED THING!


After a drama-filled day for us listening to the Senate, and after all hope seemed long lost, they brought up HB9 unexpectedly, out of the blue, and passed it 18 - 7 - 1 tonight, without a single word of debate. The Alabama Homebrew Bill has passed the Legislature!!!!

It goes to Governor Bentley now. Although he has indicated that he supports the bill, we need to make sure he knows thousands of Alabamians want him to sign it. This is the one, last step needed before Homebrewing is legal in Alabama, and in all 50 states! So, please go to http://governor.alabama.gov/contact/contact_form.aspx, and fill out the form with your information. Choose "Legislative Session 2013" from the "Email Concerning which Issue" choices. And in the "Comments", in your own words, politely ask the governor to sign HB9, the Homebrew Bill. Try to get as many people as you can to do this! We know our prohibitionists opposition will be writing him, and we must vastly overwhelm their numbers!!!

Major thanks go to Senator Bill Holtzclaw for seeing this through, and to Representative Mac McCutcheon for many years of work. None of this would have been possible without our bills' sponsors. And especially, none of this would have happened without you, the grassroots organization who has brought Alabama to the verge of ending the Prohibition of Homebrew! Thank you, all!
---
Right To Brew
http://www.alahomebrewing.org
 
isleofman said:
I think the AL bill will become law when signed. So we may yet beat out MS.
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I have tried to be supportive and avoid rubbing it in, but, now that you guys have passed the legislative step I will point out the Mississippi bill was signed by the governor March 18, 2013.

Mississippi is the 49th state to pass legislation decriminalizing home brewing. Alabama is last in this category.

Alabama will be the 49th state to decriminalize home brewing. Mississippi will be last in this category.

Bentley has 6 days (excluding Sunday) to sign the bill or it becomes law without his signature. So worst case date for effectiveness in Alabama is May 14, 2013.
 
alestateyall said:
I have tried to be supportive and avoid rubbing it in, but, now that you guys have passed the legislative step I will point out the Mississippi bill was signed by the governor March 18, 2013.

Mississippi is the 49th state to pass legislation decriminalizing home brewing. Alabama is last in this category.

Alabama will be the 49th state to decriminalize home brewing. Mississippi will be last in this category.

Bentley has 6 days (excluding Sunday) to sign the bill or it becomes law without his signature. So worst case date for effectiveness in Alabama is May 14, 2013.
Click to expand...

PS. When y'all hit your 15 gallon quarterly limit come on over to my house. I can store up to 185 more gallons for you ;)
 
I must admit that I gave up listening yesterday because I thought we were done. What pleasant surprise when I opened my email this morning and the first thing I see is "It Passed!". My heart almost jumped out of my chest. That place , the legislature, is such a mystery. Glad I don't work there, I'd be in an asylum.

Now I gotta get that special ALCAP recipe ready to go. :tank:
 
I could not believe it when I opened that email. After we were scrapped so late in the day in favor of the budget, I knew that we were done for this year. No debate? How is that even possible?

Also, I see that my own Senator, Gerald Allen - who opposes pretty much any alcohol bills, and was known to be anti-homebrewing - voted yes for the bill. I know that I emailed and called him quite a few times, perhaps enough others did, as well, to change his mind. Time to send a thank you message.

But not before I ask Bentley to sign the law.
 
Very surprised this morning. Gave up last night and worked on my next batch. Got it into the fermenter at 10:00PM and was too tired to check again. Had a homebrew to celebrate my batch and didn't know I was also toasting our win.
I did email Rep. McCutcheon after the house vote and got a very nice response from him. The guys who worked for this do deserve our thanks. Even if they work in a zoo.
 
I am happy to take all of the zings that Mississippi wants to send. 15 gallons is stupid, but (a) I seldom have more than that on hand, anyway, (b) who is going to come check how much I have?, and (c) if I get busted, it's a misdemeanor, not a felony.

Just sent the following to Governor Bentley:

Governor Bentley,

I am writing to ask you to please sign HB9, popularly know as the Alabama Homebrew Bill. As it stands today, we are the last state in the nation that still views brewing beer at home as a crime. As a matter of fact, Alabama is now one of the very last governments outside of those under Islamic Sharia law (such as Iran, Afghanistan, etc) that treats brewing beer as a crime.

Home brewing was legalized on the federal level back in the Carter administration. It is clearly long past time for Alabama to repeal this Prohibition Era law.

Home brewing is about a hobby, a craft - not about drunkenness. It is far quicker (and cheaper) to buy alcohol legally from a store than it is to brew at home. Instead, brewing is much like cooking a gourmet meal for yourself - you try to make the very best quality beer that you can, for the simple pleasure of the process... and, of course, to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

I applaud the Legislature for finally working in a bipartisan manner to legalize home brewing, and today, I respectfully ask you to please sign this bill into law.


Sincerely,

Olan Suddeth
Lake View, Alabama
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I think I saw someone in Japan saying it was illegal to brew over there although I'm not sure if it's a Beer/Sake distinction or not. Nevertheless, I'll be sure to send over my support to Governor Bentley.
 
Accidic said:
I think I saw someone in Japan saying it was illegal to brew over there although I'm not sure if it's a Beer/Sake distinction or not. Nevertheless, I'll be sure to send over my support to Governor Bentley.
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Okay, I may have missed one. The point still stands.
 
No worries. Wasn't trying to destruct your argument.

That said, I wonder if the passage means Deep South Brew will be reopening in Montgomery. I know two LHBS is overkill but couldn't hurt. Plus the only homebrew club I knew of in this area met @ Deep South.
 
Man, I was all set to drown my sorrows about this last night, when my wife got a forwarded Facebook notification about the bill's passage while I was off in the loo.

We flipped that into toasts and celebration in a hurry! :tank:

-Rich
 
Gonna brew up a new quick-turnaround Wit recipe this weekend. :D

The bill might not be signed yet, but here's hoping the batch will be close to ready by the time it is!

-Rich
 
Accidic said:
No worries. Wasn't trying to destruct your argument.

That said, I wonder if the passage means Deep South Brew will be reopening in Montgomery. I know two LHBS is overkill but couldn't hurt. Plus the only homebrew club I knew of in this area met @ Deep South.
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They still meet over at Fairview Homebrew I believe. I'll PM you the contact info for CABS (Central Alabama Brewers Society). They send out notices whenever they are meeting.
 
Does anyone know why Senator Holzclaw was absent when the bill went to vote? Did the opposition try to sneak it in when there were fewer supporters there?
 
Okay guys, we have made it this far. Bentley does NOT have to sign the bill. He can wait and let the time lapse and it will automatically before law. We are outside the Pocket Veto timeframe, so we are safe from that.

BUT -

It is better if he signs it!

Call his office - 334-242-7100 The nice lady who answers knows what's going on. Tell her you support HB9 and want it signed. She will tally the totals.

Also - go to this page http://governor.alabama.gov/contact/contact_form.aspx and tell them you support it there as well!

Thanks CGVT for taking you my slack on getting the link over here sooner, and thanks to AleStateYall for bringing the news last night. I was streaming the audio on my phone and wasn't near the computer to post when it passed.
 
Congratulations on passing the bill! A lot of hard work was done behind the scenes (and out in plain view) to get this done. I will raise a toast to the 50th state this weekend...hopefully by then the Governor will have signed the bill.
 
CGVT said:
Does anyone know why Senator Holzclaw was absent when the bill went to vote? Did the opposition try to sneak it in when there were fewer supporters there?
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I listened to the recording this morning, and I thought I heard him say "Aye!" when his name was called on the second (final) vote. Then I heard the clerk say to the guy standing next to him, "Did Holtzclaw vote?" and the other guy mumbled a no. So I think he may have, but it didn't get recorded for some reason. Either that or I'm not keeping up well with who said what.
 
Huff, did you have any idea that this was going to come up for vote last night?
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Nobody that I know of knew that was coming (including Huff). The "Right to Brew" folks that I know were listening into the Senate proceedings just in case, but everyone was surprised.

I was making an ice cream run for the wife and listening via iphone. I nearly ran off the road, was sure I had misunderstood what happened until I made it to Sonic and was able to check our club forum and facebook.

I'd love to find out what political maneuvering took place to make it happen.

ALCAP's update is priceless:

HB9 - Homebrew Bill - UPDATE

In a surprise move, last night (May 7), Senator Gerald Dial moved to bring up the Home Brew Bill (HB9) out of order on the floor of the Senate. After the vote was taken, the bill passed 18-7, with 1 abstaining and 9 not voting. We have attached the voting record for each Senator (click here). I encourage you to contact your Senator and thank him/her for voting NO or for not voting, and express your disappointment to those who voted YES. Those who are pastors might also want to let your congregation know how their Senator voted.

The bill now goes to the Governor's desk for his signature. I want to thank all of you who contacted your House Members earlier in the session and your Senators recently and asked them to oppose this bill.
 
CGVT said:
Huff, did you have any idea that this was going to come up for vote last night?
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Richard's right. Holtzclaw did say he would be speaking about the Fariview/ABC incident "at some point tomorrow" on Tuesday, but that was all any of us knew.

I imagine that Mac had let them know there would be a lot of filibustering take place in the House (which would keep Senate bills from moving over there) should his bill not come up. If I had to guess....
 
I have contacted the Governor. I have sent thank yous to many of the supporters (and personalized ones to Holzclaw, McCutcheon, Irons, and Allen [my senator who voted "yes" despite a history of anti-alcohol votes]). I've offered McCutcheon some homebrew if he's ever in the neighborhood. :)

Irons has already sent me a "You are most welcome! Glad we could pass it!".

I also sent this to my Representative, John Merrill:

Congressman Merrill,

Last night, the Senate passed HB9 (the Homebrewing Bill). Of course, you opposed the bill in the House, just as you have in every occasion since you first took office.

Despite the best efforts of the ALCAP faction and those who support them (such as yourself), Alabama finally joined the other 49 states in the Union - as well as most of the free world - in allowing the personal liberty for adults to brew beer in their own homes.

Did you know that - assuming Governor Bentley does not veto the bill - the only remaining goverments that actually deny home brewing will be Japan and the various Islamic Sharia-ruled countries?

I hope that you will think about that for a moment. I know that you claim opposition to home brewing based off of your Christian principles, yet the fact that you have no other reason for opposition puts you on equal moral ground (in this respect) to the Taliban.

This country was founded on personal liberty, Congressman. My own personal views are as conservative as they come... but to me, freedom of religion means that I cannot, in good conscience, dictate how others should behave based solely on my own religious beliefs. Free adults should be allowed to live their lives as they choose as long as they do not hurt others.

I hope that your heart is in the right place, Congressman, but I implore you to remember that your job, as the Representative of District 62, is to act as your disctrict's voice in Montgomery. To represent all of your contituents, not just those that share your same views of morality.

When the time comes to vote, I will vote for a candidate that votes on the merits of the issues themselves, as opposed to one who applies his own preconceived notions, no matter how noble the intent of those notions. Can you honestly say that you are the former?


Sincerely,
Olan Suddeth
Lake View, Alabama (your constituent)
Click to expand...
 
jhoneycutt said:
Does this also mean we may still be able to beat Mississippi? Lol just messin but seriously?
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Well since Mississippi's law was signed by the Governor a month or two ago, nope yall are still behind the Great State of Mississippi, as usual. But Congrats on being the last state to get Home brewing approved. :ban: :tank:
 
Incidentally, I note that several of the "yes" votes came from those as being considered to be anti-homebrewing.

Allen voted yes. He's pretty anti-alcohol.

Bussman voted yes. He's been considered anti-homebrewing for some time.

Orr voted yes, and has voted no on just about every piece of alcohol legislation he has seen.

Ditto Holley. N votes on everything for years.

Were they confused? Swayed by the deluge of contacts?
 

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