Alabama bill SB153 to legalize homebrewing passed the Senate on Tuesday Feb. 23.
It was an emotionally charged day for Alabama’s homebrewers, many of who listened to the proceedings via live broadcast on the Alabama legislature’s website. The bill was initially rejected,on a vote of 13 nays to 7 yeas, at which point most of the homebrewers who were listening dejectedly tuned out.
However, the bill was brought up again, amended to restrict transport of homebrew to 20 gallons at a time, then passed by the Senate 13 to 6 with one abstention.
This is a tremendous step forward for homebrew legalization in Alabama – one that would not have happened without the hundreds of phone calls, letters and faxes sent to Senators by Alabama homebrewers. Alabama’s homebrewers should be proud of what they have acheived, I know I am proud of them.
It’s too early to get cocky though. The bill now moves on to the Alabama House of Representatives, where there are a lot more legislators to educate on homebrewing than there were in the Senate. Alabama residents should start contacting their Representatives ASAP to politely urge them to support SB153. Click here for instructions on finding your legislator by zip code.
Alabama AHA members can expect to receive an Action Alert from the AHA as soon as we find out which House committee the homebrew bill is assigned to. We will need everyone of our Alabama members to contact the Representatives on that committee to help ensure passage of the bill on to the full House.
More to come…
Gary Glass
AHA Director
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