Avenue Vine

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ILLINOIS ANTI-RETAILER LEGISLATION AWAITS ACTION
Pending Illinois legislation that if passed would prohibit out-of-state retailers from shipping into that state is awaiting action in the Illinois house. House Speaker Michael Madigan must either release HB 429 for a vote on the floor of the house by Thursday, not release it for a vote and thereby kill the entire bill or extend the deadline for bills. If the legislation is passed out of the House it will then move to the Illinois Senate where its companion legislation, SB 123, will be considered.

To-date SWRA members and non-member have contacted thousands of Illinois consumers asking them to contact their legislators. In addition, legislator contact has resulted from very active on-line wine forums that have helped promote the need for consumers to contact their legislators in Illinois and from outreach by Free The Grapes.

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TEXAS ANTI-SHIPPING LEGISLATION STILL IN PLAY
Texas Senate Bill 1229 appears to be headed toward passage. This legislation would prohibit Texas wine retailers from shipping wine outside the county where their store is located. The bill appears to be an acknowledgement of the strength of SWRA’s argument in our Texas Lawsuit that it is unconstitutional to allow in-state retailers to ship to Texans but prohibit out-of-state retailers to do the same. This legislation is a pre-emptive “leveling down” of shipping regulations in that state in an attempt to justify a prohibition on out-of-state retailers from shipping into the state.

SWRA members and their customers, with the help of prominent Texans, were able to help slow down the legislation. The Texas House must consider and pass the bill before it becomes law.

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LOIRE VALLEY WINES ON SHOW FOR RETAILERS
West Coast retailers looking to investigate the current offerings from the Loire Valley have the opportunity at three trade tastings scheduled by the Loire Valley Wine Bureau:

LOS ANGELES
Thursday, May 10
Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica
Penthouse Ballroom
530 West Pico Boulevard
1pm - 5:30pm

SAN FRANCISCO
Monday, May 14
The Regency Center
Grand Ballroom
1290 Sutter Street
1pm - 5:30pm

SEATTLE
Wednesday, May 16
The Fairview Club
2022 Boren Avenue North
1pm - 5:30pm

THE BOTTOM LINE:

"This court has long held that..."

Over the past four months wine wholesalers in a number of states have attempted to pass legislation that would prohibit consumers from buying and having shipped to them wine from out-of-state retailers. In every case the argument is made that the 2005 Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court decision only applies to winery-to-consumer shipments. Clearly SWRA disagrees and the organization is in the midst of a lawsuit to prove that point in Texas. But to remind us of the principles that were embedded in the Granholm decision, we’d like to offer these excerpts from Granholm V. Heald:

“This Court has long held that, in all but the narrowest circumstances, state laws violate the Commerce Clause if they mandate ‘differential treatment of in-state and out-of-state economic interests that benefits the former and burdens the latter’… States may not enact laws that burden out-of-state producers or shippers simply to give a competitive advantage to in-state businesses….The Twenty-first Amendment does not supersede other provisions of the Constitution and, in particular, does not displace the rule that States may not give a discriminatory preference to their own producers….If a State chooses to allow direct shipment of wine, it must do so on evenhanded terms…”

The full text of the Granholm v. Heald ruling can be read BY CLICKING HERE

The Bottom Line is published weekly by the Specialty Wine Retailers Association. More information on SWRA is available at www.specialtywineretailers.org. Tom Wark, SWRA's Executive Director, can be contacted at 707-935-4424 or via e-mail at twark@specialtywineretailers.org .