Tag Archives: Phil Boots

Legislature Right – For a Change

22 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Indiana, Midwestern States, Newspaper Column 2015

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Indiana’s legislature showed a small bit of sanity in getting a shipping law passed for Hoosier Wineries before closing the most recent session. Governor Pence signed the bill into law.

Phil Boots

Phil Boots

Grape Sense LogoSen. Phil Boots, R-Crawfordsville, gudied the legislation removing the face-­to-­face requirement for Indiana wineries to ship wine to their customers. At one point, the licensing fee went from $100 annually to $500. That was plain and simple another case of the legislators bowing to the powerful liquor lobby, funded largely by alcohol distributors.

He urged supporters to keep the foot on the gas and in the end the fee structure was set up on a graduating scale depending on production and alcohol shipped. A fair, if not arguably unnecessary, solution.

Kim Doty, standing center, with husband John and family.

Kim Doty, standing center, with husband John and family.

Indiana wineries could not be happier.

“When the law requiring an initial face to face transaction became effective, it literally destroyed our shipments to wine customers,” said Kim Doty, owner of French Lick Winery.

“We lost 95 percent of our wine shipping sales. Our wine sold and shipped to customers in 2004 was about 10 percent of our total sales. Today with the face to face requirement, our shipping sales are less than one tenth of 1 percent of our total sales. This requirement has also had a negative impact on the growth of our wine club with 99 percent of our wine club sales are shipped directly to the home.”

Again, that face­-to-­face requirement was added to legislation in 2008 as a token to the alcohol lobby but crippling, in particular, to small wineries.

Wineries like French Lick were forced to play along but at a steep price. “We have accumulated over 5400 completed verification forms to date. We would have sold and shipped at least twice that if not for the requirement.”

The new law requires age verification but all shipping laws generally do. Wineries can meet the requirement by using an age verification delivery service like FedEx or UPS.

“We are thrilled with having the requirement rescinded,” Doty said. “Age verification will still be performed by the delivery company and we will pay additional fees for this service. We are confident that our wine shipments are properly handled in accordance with Indiana’s age requirement for liquor.”

Jim Butler

Jim Butler

Jim Butler, Butler Vineyards near Bloomington, has long been one of the industries leading spokespersons and advocate for sanity in wine shipping laws and more.

“We are basically back to where we were 9 or 10 years ago,” Butler said. “With the face to face requirement we l lost 90 percent of our shipping business. Perhaps now we can build it back. This is a nice step forward. It is always a battle of the titans at the statehouse about alcohol issues, big money. big players. We are just little guys. It is one small step toward sanity.”

Sanity? That seldom happens with the legislature and liquor laws. Just look at what happened this year with Sunday sales. A simple law was mangled with requirements that would have retailers build walls in existing stores to sell alcohol on Sundays.

Fortunately, the legislature got it right for Indiana wineries, big and small, in 2015.

Legislature’s Smoke & Mirrors

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Indiana, Midwestern States, Newspaper Column 2015

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There is a bill moving through the Indiana Legislature which, on the surface, appears to help Indiana wineries. The Senate approved a measure removing restrictions on in-state shipping by eliminating the face-to-face requirement established in 2006.

Grape Sense LogoBut like the old adage ‘no good deed shall go unpunished’ the legislature resorted to its usual ways of big bucks win and stuck it to the state’s smaller wineries. Fortunately, it’s not too late if wine enthusiasts will reach out to their legislators.

Senate Bill 113, sponsored by Phil Boots, Crawfordsville, removed the silly face-to-face requirement. Boots left the licensing fee at a reasonable $100. But in the Public Policy Committee members boosted the fee to $500.

“So for an Indiana winery, we already have to pay a $500 annual Farm Winery Permit, and now in order to ship wine we’ll have to pay for another $500 license,” said Jim Pfeiffer, owner/winemaker at Turtle Run Winery, Corydon.

PfeifferLow

Pfeiffer

“The idea behind the $500 license is to discourage direct shipping, especially from wineries outside the state.  A few other states have similar laws, such as Missouri and Michigan, two states in which we don’t ship wine due to the cost of procuring their licenses.”

Frankly, I disagree with my friend Jim. The wholesaler lobbying effort could give a hoot about where wine comes from as long as it passes through their hands for their cut. When I asked Boots if the fee was increased simply to appease the wholesaler’s lobby, he said, “Sure.”

And that lobby makes political contributions, albeit small ones in many cases, to virtually every legislator in the statehouse.

The antiquated three-tier liquor system does nothing but cost Indiana wineries profit. If small Indiana wineries go through a wholesaler, they must significantly reduce the cost of the product so the wholesaler, then retailer, get their cut. If the small winery can ship to your door, they make all the profit. And most wholesalers have little to no interest in carrying Indiana product any way.

If passed, with or without the higher fee, some legislators will brazenly thump their chest for helping out small Indiana business. That is a crock of you know what and Boots agrees.

Boots

Boots

“There have been a lot of people say (… the legislature has given then taken away,)” the Crawfordsville legislator said. “That’s the highest license fee in the nation. It will not help the real small guys. They can’t afford that.”

Boots is encouraging supporters to contact House members and get the fee restored to $100. I’ve visited nearly half of Indiana’s 70-something wineries and have learned a few things about the economics. There are probably a very small handful of Indiana wineries which can afford another $500 license.

The committee moved the bill with a 9-0 vote then the full Senate passed it with a 40-10 roll call. It’s now in the House Public Policy Committee.

You can help by writing members of the House Public Policy committee and your own representative. Thomas Dermody is chair. Timothy Wesco is vice chair. Committee members are: Edward Clere, Sean Eberhart, Todd Huston, Matthew Leman, Jim Lucas, Ben Smaltz, Matthew Ubelhor, Philip GiaQuinta, Terri Jo Austin, Charlie Brown, and Vanessa Summers. You can easily find their email and phone numbers on http://www.iga.in.gov website.

Write these Reps, write your Rep. ask they set the fee in Senate Bill 113 at the original $100 and help all 70-plus Indiana wineries.