H392-Malt Beverage Bill

Story >

Beer Bill Sent To Senate Finance Committee

Family Policy Facts - July 8, 2005
A bill to allow beer with a 15 percent alcohol content to be sold in North Carolina stores and restaurants made it to the floor of the North Carolina Senate on Thursday, July 7, only to be removed and re-referred to a Senate committee for further consideration. House Bill 392—Amend Definition of Malt Beverage in ABC Law, passed the Senate Commerce Committee on July 5, with little discussion. However, when H392 was placed before the full Senate on Thursday, Sen. John Kerr (D-Wayne) requested a fiscal note on the bill (to determine the fiscal impact of the measure on the state budget) and asked that the bill be sent to the Finance Committee—of which he is a co-chairman—for review. In addition to expressing general concerns about the bill, Senator Kerr noted that alcoholic beverages sold in North Carolina are typically taxed according to their alcohol content. Although H392 would increase the permissible alcohol content of malt beverages from six percent to 15 percent, the bill would allow all malt beverages to be taxed at the same level regardless of the amount of alcohol contained.

Supporters of the bill tout the economic benefits of the change, including expanded business for North Carolina-based microbreweries and an increase in the number of products sold by restaurants. However, opponents have raised significant concerns if the bill is passed. Reverend Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League of N.C., told the Senate Commerce Committee that H392 would allow for the sale of high alcohol content malt liquor products that have particularly harmful effects on the drinker and are often marketed to minorities and youth. He also told committee members that the bill undermines the local option alcohol referenda in which voters have previously approved beer sales in their communities based on the six percent cap on alcohol content, and that H392 could undermine the state’s alcohol control system by setting the stage for many spirituous liquor products with a 15 percent or less alcohol content—which are only available in ABC stores—to be sold in grocery and convenience stores. Should the Senate Finance Committee modify the taxing structure for malt beverages, that action could broaden the opposition to H392.