Kristina Roegner, State Senator, 27th Senate District — Sponsor Testimony, Senate Bill 102

Summary

Sponsor testimony of Kristina Roegner, State Senator for the 27th Senate District, on Senate Bill 102 before the Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee, June 23rd, 2021. The testimony says the bill would allow an Ohioan to enter a homebrewed product in a tasting competition against other homemade alcohols, and says transport of homebrewed product is not allowed under current Ohio Division of Liquor Control guidelines. It says Ohio was considered for the 2020 "BrewCon" but organizers chose elsewhere. It describes provisions letting premises with an A-1c, A-2, A-2f, A-3a, or D4 permit conduct their own homebrew event, and says the Senate passed the bill by a 31-1 vote.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

Kristina Roegner
State Senator
27th Senate District



                                      Sponsor Testimony
                                        Senate Bill 102
                           Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee
                                        June 23rd, 2021

Chair Stein, Vice-Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan, and
Members of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to provide sponsor testimony on S.B. 102, which will allow for an
Ohioan to enter their own homebrewed product in a tasting competition against
other homemade alcohols.

“Homebrewing” covers everything from brewing beer with yeast to fermenting
wine from juice to making mead from honey to crushing fruit for cider. While
homebrewing has taken place on this continent since before the first European
settlers arrived 1, we of course had an act of Congress to make things official.
The 1978 enactment of Public Law 95-458 (H.R. 1337) legalized the practice of
home brewing in the United States, provided one individual produces less than
100 gallons yearly or a household with two adults less than 200 gallons per
year. The law also allows for homebrews made for personal or family use to be
removed from the premises where made, for exhibitions, tastings, and
homemakers contests 2.

The home production of alcohol has flourished since 1978, and learning the art
continues to grow in popularity. Homebrewing is actually more popular now
than ever3. New brewers and experienced vintners alike have a desire to
gather with others in order to share their knowledge and notes. This social
gathering of people and ideas often takes the form of full-blown industry

1
 https://www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/?wpfb_dl=58
2
  https://www.congress.gov/bill/95th-congress/house-bill/1337
3
  https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/national/entertainment/story/2020/apr/23/amid-covid-19-pandemic-homebrewing-surges-
popularity/521305/
conferences and conventions, such as “Homebrew Con,” (“BrewCon”), the
American Homebrewers Association’s annual event. “BrewCon” attracts nearly
5,000 patrons every year, drawing interest from its nearly 50,000 home
brewers across the country.

The economic impact of such gatherings is substantial. “BrewCon” for example
generates $5 million dollars in local economic activity, with another $200,000 in
tax revenue going to the state and $100,000 going to local governments being
typical.4 Ohio was considered for the 2020 “BrewCon”, but organizers
inevitably chose to convene elsewhere because, despite over 40 years of safe
and satisfying homebrewing nationwide, the transportation of homebrewed
product is not allowed under current Ohio Division of Liquor Control guidelines.
Hosting an event in Cleveland was not worth the permitting headache that
would come as a result of Ohio’s unclear and antiquated law, which views the
transport of homebrewed beverages as an open-container violation. Twenty-
nine states have recognized that federal law allows homebrewed beverages to
be transported to competitions and judging, but Ohio has not. 5

The need for this legislation was brought to my attention by a homebrewing-
constituent who has a passion for beer, and was on top of this issue even
before the state was passed over for the 2020 “BrewCon”.

Every House and Senate district in the state contain home-brewing
constituents, who all should be allowed to compete, meet, and come together
to discuss their hobby without the need to obtain a permit or pay a fee to the
Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Liquor Control. In addition to
allowing for the homebrewer’s family, neighbors, and friends to come together
on private property, Senate Bill 102 does include provisions to allow certain
liquor permit holders to conduct their own homebrew event. Included are
premises where an A-1c, A-2, A-2f, A-3a, or D4 permit is issued. While Ohio
has over 60 different liquor permits, these 5 permits were carefully selected to



4
  https://www.minneapolis.org/media/news-releases/minneapolis-welcomes-beer-enthusiasts-from-around-the-country-for-
homebrew/
5
  https://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/home-manufacture-of-alcohol-state-statutes.aspx
include those which may be beneficial to the craft and spur economic
development.
  • Permit A-1c is Ohio’s craft beer brewing license, and applies to brewers
    who produce less than 31 million gallons per year. This permit covers
    small businesses like Old Capitol Brewing, a brewery in Vice-Chair
    Johnson’s district, and the inclusion of this permit class would allow them
    to invite their neighbors and their homebrews to the brewery to share
    ideas and industry insight.

  • Permit A-2 is Ohio’s license for the manufacture of wine, including mead.
    The inclusion of this permit would allow me to take mead produced from
    my bees’ honey to Chair Stein’s district, where we could both attend an
    event at the D&D Smith Winery in Norwalk.

  • Permit A-2f permits Ohio’s farms to make wine and cider from fruits
    grown on their property. If Representative Jones decided to take up cider
    making, the inclusion of this permit would allow him to travel to my district
    to visit Bent Ladder Cider and Wine in Doylestown, where he could
    compare his cider to theirs and get input on his efforts from the experts.

  • Permit A-3a is Ohio’s license for small-scale distillers, those who produce
    less than 100,000 gallons annually. The inclusion of this permit would
    allow for Representative Roemer and me to join our constituents in
    learning about the barrel aging of beers at Canal Spirits Craft Distillery in
    Canal Fulton.

  • Permit D4 is the permit that covers Ohio’s fraternal organizations.
    Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan, I know you are the granddaughter of
    Italian and Irish immigrants… the inclusion of this permit would allow for
    the Youngstown Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge to involve homebrew
    events in supporting their mission to promote Italian culture, traditions,
    and language.

Planning for the 2023 Homebrew Convention is now taking place. Northern-
Ohio brewers are trying their hardest to keep Cleveland in the running. Each
passing day also brings lost revenue for those small businesses which could
attract individuals to their business by hosting a convention or competition.
With this in mind, and considering Indiana6 and Illinois7 have recently passed
legislation similar to SB102, the time is now to ensure Ohio doesn’t fall further
behind. This bill is about conformity with federal law and capitalizing on
economic opportunity.

On May 26th, 2021, SB102 passed the Senate Agriculture and Natural
Resources Committee unanimously and the Senate by a 31-1 vote.

I thank you for the opportunity to testify today and would be happy to answer
any questions at this time.




6
    https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrewing-rights/statutes/Indiana/
7
    https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrewing-rights/statutes/Illinois/


File and source

File

2021-06-23_commerce-labor_testimony_testimony-8351.pdf

Size

75,702 bytes

SHA-256

4ba77169f5b5bc07e4c60487be2cd32b37f5d357e9d7544aeaac2ef21f8cb67c

Our copy

2021-06-23_commerce-labor_testimony_testimony-8351.pdf

Original

No public link identified.