Today, representatives of the House and Senate Federal and State Affairs Committees met to discuss Senate Substitute for HB 2124 - formerly SB 511 the microbrewery self-distribution legislation.  The House of Representatives hasn't held any hearings on the microbrewery proposal this session, but will vote whether or not to accept the bill through conference committee agreement.  The House members asked questions about the compromise language, including the background information to support numbers in the new bill. 

There was specific discussion whether or not 30,000 barrels is an appropriate upper limit for microbrewery production - in other words - is it still too high to be considered "micro"?  The numbers in the bill are supposed to prevent any legal challenges to the state's three-tier distribution system related to Granholm v. Heald.

Conferees accepted a proposal by Rep. Kessler to add to the legislation a required report to the Legislature from the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control regarding microbreweries production, compliance and tax payment and reporting due January 2025.  

The House representatives accepted the rest of the bill as passed by the full Senate.  Many legislators have expressed relief to see the microbrewery/distributor compromise move forward.  The microbrewery bill garnered a lot of attention by legislators in both chambers, as the microbrewery owners met with many legislators from across the state to promote their proposal over the past few months. 

Sub for HB 2124 will:   

• Change the statutory definition of microbrewery to reduce the production limit to 30,000 (from 60,000)  Note: no Kansas microbrewery approaches these production numbers and only 4-5 make more than 1000 barrels,
• Allow a microbrewery to self-distribute to retailers, public venues, clubs, drinking establishments, caterers and temporary permit holders,
• Limit the total amount of beer and/or hard cider manufactured by the microbrewery to be self-distributed to 1000 barrels of beer and 3000 gallons of hard cider.
• Exempt from these limits product distributed to their own drinking establishments or catering businesses (at least 25% ownership) or between microbreweries/packaging facilities that are commonly owned,
• Require the microbrewery to file a written notice stating the geographic territory for such sales,
• Allow sales to the public off the licensed premises at special events regulated by the ABC,
• Add microbreweries to the statutes regulating trade practices, non-discrimination requirements, and allocations and prohibiting quantity discounts,
• Allows delivery charges to licensees under the club and drinking establishment act,

AND

• At the request of the wholesalers, amended Liquor Control Act to allow distributors or microbreweries to buy back or exchange, at the original sales price, any item of beer or cereal malt beverage that is within 30 days of its expiration date - replacing the 14 day limitation.