Thousands of new state laws were passed across America this year, and dozens affect fermentation businesses — small and large — as well as home fermenters.
Government agencies are loosening some strict health code and alcohol regulations, laws that made running an artisanal business difficult. There are also new opportunities being created that allow craft breweries to expand their operations, such as entertainment districts where beer can be sold and enjoyed legally.
Read on for the breakdown of 2019 food laws passed in each state
Alaska
SB16 — Expands state alcohol licenses to include recreational areas. After the Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board began cracking down on alcohol licenses in 2017, several recreational sites were denied licenses to sell alcohol. The bill, known as “Save the Alaska State Fair Act,” now expands license types to the state fair, ski areas, bowling alleys and tourist operations.
Arizona
HB2178 — Removes red tape for small ice cream stores and other milk product businesses to manufacture and sell dairy products. The bill, called the “Ice Cream Freedom Act,” allows smaller mom and pop businesses to make milk-based products without complying with state regulations designed for large dairy manufacturers.
Arkansas
HB1407 — Prohibits false labeling on agricultural products edible by humans. That includes misleading labels, like labeling agricultural products as a different kind of food or omitting required label information.
HB1556 — Ends the “undisclosed and ongoing investigations” of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division, and the Alcoholic Beverage Enforcement Division.
HB1590 — Limits the number off-premise sales of wine and liquor in the state to one permit for every 7,500 residents in the county or subdivision. Small farm wines are the exception to the new law.
HB1852 — Allows a microbrewery to operate in a dry county as a private club, without approval from the local governing body.
HB1853 — Amends the Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Acts to increase the amount of local farm and food products purchased by government agencies (like state parks and schools).
SB348 — Establishes a Hard Cider Manufacturing Permit. Cider brewers can apply for the annual $250 permit, authorizing the sale of hard cider. Producers may not sell more than 15,000 barrels of hard cider a year.
SB492 — Establishes temporary or permanent entertainment areas in wet counties where alcohol can be carried and consumed on the public streets and sidewalks.
California
AB205 — Revises the definition of beer to mean that beer may be produced using “honey, fruit, fruit juice, fruit concentrate, herbs, spices, and other food materials, and adjuncts in fermentation.”
AB377 — A follow-up to the state’s landmark California Homemade Food Act in 2018, the new bill would clarify the implementation process of last year’s bill. The California Home Food Act made it legal for home cooks to operate home-based food production facilities. The law, though, was only enacted if a county’s board of supervisors voted to opt-in to offer the permits. Only one county in California has opted in (Riverside). County health officials are avoiding singing on the bill because of potential food safety risks.
AB619 — Permits temporary food vendors at events to serve customers in reusable containers rather than disposable servingware. The “Bring Your Own Bill” also clarifies existing health code, allowing customers to bring their own reusable containers to restaurants for take-out.
AB792 — Establishes a minimum level of recycled content (50%) in plastic beverage bottles by 2035. The world’s strongest recycling requirement, the law would help reduce litter and boost demand for manufacturers to use recycled plastic materials.
AB1532 — Adds instructions on the elements of major food allergens and safe handling food practices to all food handler training courses.
Connecticut
HB5004 — Raises minimum wage to $15 by 2023.
HB6249 — Charges 10 cents for single-use plastic bags by 2021.
HB7424 — Raises sales tax from 6.35% to 7.35% for restaurant meals and prepared foods sold elsewhere, like in a grocery store. Also repeals the $250 biennial business entity tax.
Delaware
HB130 — Bans single-use plastic bags by 2021.
SB105 — Raises minimum wage to $15 by 2024.
HB125 — Facilitates growth and expansion of craft alcoholic beverage companies, raising amount of manufactured beer to 6 million barrels.
Florida
SB82 — Prohibits a municipality from regulating vegetable gardens on residential properties.
Idaho
HB134 — Regulates where beer and wine can be served, now including public plazas.
HB151 — Charges licensing fees for temporary food establishments based on the number of days open. Fees will gradually increase through 2022.
Illinois
HB3018 — Amends Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act, requiring a restaurant prominently display signage indicating a guest’s food allergies must be communicated to the restaurant.
HB3440 — Allows customers to provide their own take-home containers when purchasing bulk items from grocery stores and other retailers.
HB2675 — An update to state liquor laws, the bill removes hurdles for craft distilleries to operate. Craft distilleries would be allowed to more widely distribute their products themselves, rather than distributing under the state’s three-tier liquor distribution system that separates producers, distributors and retailers.
SB1240 — Imposes a 7 cent tax on each plastic bag at checkout, with 2 cents staying with the retailers. The remaining 5 cents per bag would fix a statewide budget deficit.
Indiana
HB1518 — Creates a special alcohol permit for the Bottleworks District. The $300 million, 12-acre urban mixed-use development in the Coca-Cola building will serve as a culinary and entertainment hub in downtown Indianapolis.
Iowa
SF618 — Increases the limit on alcohol in beer from 5% to 6.25%.
SF323 — Canned cocktail and premixed drinks served in a metal can, up to 14% alcohol by volume, will now be regulated like beer.
Kentucky
HB311 — Requires proper labeling of cell-cultured meat products that are lab produced.
HB468 — Expands defined items permitted for sale by home-based processors.
Louisiana
HR251 — Designates week of September 23-29 as Louisiana Craft Brewer Week.
SB152 — Establishes definition for agriculture products. Prohibits anyone from mislabeling a meat edible to humans.
SR20 — Designates week of September 3-9th as Louisiana Craft Spirits Week.
Maine
LD289 — Prohibits stores from selling or distributing any disposable food containers that are made entirely or partially of polystyrene foam (Styrofoam).
LD454 — Provides funding and staffing needed to give local students and nutrition directors the resources needed to purchase and serve locally grown foods.
LD1433 — Bans two toxic, industrial chemicals (phthalates and PFAS) from food packaging. Maine becomes first state in the nation to ban the two chemicals.
LD1532 — Bans all single-use plastic bags in the state. Law will be enacted by April 2020, at which time shoppers can pay 5 cents for a plastic bag. Maine is the fourth state to pass a ban, joining California, New York and Hawaii.
LD1761 — Increases amount of barrels craft beer and hard cider manufacturers can produce in a year. The cap increased from 50,000 gallons to 930,000 gallons (approximately 30,000) barrels. The law also makes it easier for a small brewery to get out of a contract with a large distributor.
Maryland
SB596 — Defined mead as a beer for tax purposes.
HB1010 — Updates state beer laws by increasing taproom sales, production capabilities, self-distribution limits and hours of operation. Known as the Brewery Modernization Act, the law is aimed to create jobs and increase economic impact.
HB1080 — No restrictive franchise law provisions for brewers that produce 20,000 barrels a year or less.
HB1301 — Sales tax will be collected on Maryland buyers from online sellers, helping small businesses compete with online retailers.
Massachusetts
HB4111 — Raises minimum wage by 75 cents a year until it reaches $15 in 2023.
Michigan
HB4959 — Gives state Liquor Control Commission the power to seize beer, wine, mixed spirit and mixed wine drinks, in order to inspect for compliance with the state’s extraordinarily detailed and complex “liquor control” regulatory and license regime. Bill also repeals a one-year residency requirement imposed on applicants for a liquor wholesaler license, after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a similar Tennessee law as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.
HB4961 — Prohibit licensed liquor manufacturers from requiring licensed wholesalers to give the manufacturer records related to the distribution of different brands, employee compensation or business operations that are not directly related to the distribution of the maker’s brands.
SB0320 — Eliminates mandate that businesses with a liquor license must post a regulatory compliance bond with the state.
Minnesota
HF1733 — Updates the state’s omnibus agriculture policy law, including: create a custom-exempt food handlers license for those handling products not for sale; extend the state’s Organic Advisory Task Force by five years; allow the agriculture department to waive farm milk storage limits is the case of hardship, emergency, or natural disaster, and modify milk/dairy labelling requirements; modify labelling for cheese made with unpasteurized milk; expand the agriculture department’s power to restrict food movement after an emergency declaration; modify eligibility and educational requirements for beginning farmer loans and tax credits.
Mississippi
SB2922 — Prohibits labeling non-meat products as meat, like animal cultures, plants and insects.
Montana
HB84 — Changes tax on wine to 27 cents per liter, and a tax on hard cider at 3.7 cents per liter.
SB358 — Raises alcohol license fee for resorts from $20,000 to $100,000 each.
Nebraska
LR13 — Establish and enforce definitions for plant-based milk and dairy. Proper product labeling would be enforced for milk and dairy food products that are “truthful, not misleading, and sufficient to different non-dairy derived beverages and food products.”
Nevada
SB345 — Authorizing pubs and certain wineries to transfer certain malt beverages and wine in bulk to an estate distillery; authorizing a wholesale dealer of liquor to make such a transfer; authorizing an estate distillery to receive malt beverages and wine in bulk for the purpose of distillation and blending; revising when certain spirits that are received or transferred in bulk are subject to taxation.
New Hampshire
HB598 — Establish a commission to study beer, wine, and liquor tourism in New Hampshire. The commission will specifically develop a plan for tourism, including establishing tourist liquor trails with signage along the highway, suggest changes to liquor laws that would enhance tourist experiences at state wineries, breweries and liquor manufacturers and suggest how to allow a “farm to table” dinner featuring New Hampshire produced food items and local alcoholic beverages.
HB642 — Defining ciders with alcohol content greater than 6% (but no more than 12%) as specialty beers.
New Jersey
A15 — Raises the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024, raising in $1 increments every year.
SB1057 — Establishes a loan program for capital expenses for vineyards and wineries in New Jersey.
New Mexico
SB149 — Change name of Alcohol and Gaming commission to Alcoholic Beverage Control Division.
SB413 — Allows breweries to: sell beer at 11 a.m. on Sundays; have private celebration permits for events like weddings and graduation parties; no minimum standards (50 barrels a year or 50 percent of all sales coming from beer brewed on site) for businesses to hold a small brewer license; eliminate excise tax, with breweries paying $.08 per gallon on the first 30,000 barrels produced.
New York
AB6019 — Encourage expansion of fresh fruits and vegetables in community gardens.
AB 8419 — Enacts the farm laborers fair labor practices act, granting collective bargaining rights, workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits to farm laborers
SB578 — New option for any brewer or distiller to file their taxes electronically.
SB1263 — Allows mead (honey-based wine) and braggot brewers to apply for a state farm meadery license. Similar to a farm winery, brewery, distillery and hard cider license, the law recognizes the boom in the craft beverage industry in the state. As a licensed meadery, mead-makers who use 100% New York honey will quality for additional benefits: offer onsite tastings, sell products by glass in their tasting rooms, sell takeout packages, offer other New York farm-produced beer, wine, cider and spirits.
SB3281 — Amends current Alcoholic Beverage Control law, authorizing the sale of cider, mead, braggot and wine at games of chance.
SB4812 — Amend current Alcoholic Beverage Control law, permitting New York State Fair concessionaires to issue a temporary State Liquor license to sell alcoholic beverages on the state fairgrounds.
SB5675 — Amend current Alcoholic Beverage Control law, authorizing issue of liquor license to a business located within 200 feet of a religious institution in multiple counties.
North Carolina
HB363 — Adds a third tier to the craft beer system — mid-level brewers. Now brewers can self-distribute 50,000 barrels of product. Called North Carolina’s Craft Beer Distribution & Modernization Act, the law also expands liquor licensing to college-level NCAA events, where drinking is currently unregulated. Currently, the law only applies to beer and wine.
North Dakota
HB1190 — Amend code to allow a winery to be issued a license without the previous requirements for how much wine is allowed to be produced in a year.
HB2079 — Amends code regarding pasteurized milk, authorizing a state milk sanitation rating and sampling surveillance officer for the rating and certification of milk and dairy products.
SB2343 — Adds microbrew pub as an official brewer licensee under city code. A microbrew pub may manufacture on the licensed premises, store, transport, sell to wholesale malt beverage licensees, and export no more than 10,000 barrels of malt beverages annually; sell malt beverages manufactured on the licensed premises; and sell alcoholic beverages regardless of source to consumers for consumption on the microbrew pub’s licensed premises. A microbrew pub may not engage in any wholesaling activities.
Oklahoma
SB544 — Requires limits on licensing fees for businesses who only sell at farmers markets.
SB608 — Requires manufacturers of the top 25 wine and spirit brands to sell their products to any state-licensed wholesaler. The law requires equal sales of the top brands, potentially creating a competitive market. The matter is currently being heard by the Supreme Court, as some businesses believe this eliminates a free market.
Oregon
HB3239 — Removes the limit of how many on-premises sales licenses that a distillery can have.
SB247 — Adds containers for kombucha and hard seltzer to the types of beverage containers covered by Oregon’s Bottle Bill. The Bottle Bill establishes laws that require stores and distributors to accept certain empty beverage containers and pay a 10-cent refund value for each container.
Pennsylvania
HB947 — Amends the Liquor Code established in 1951, to provide further definitions for licenses and regulations for liquor, alcohol and malt and brewed beverages.
Rhode Island
SB620 — Increases the amount of malt beverages that could be sold on premises at a craft brewery.
South Dakota
SB68 — Prohibits labeling cell-cultured protein as meat.
SB124 — Allows a retailer, carrying their own merchandise purchased from a wholesaler, to transport alcoholic beverages to the retailer’s licensed business.
Tennessee
SB358 — Requiring unpasteurized butter sold to the public must bear a warning on the package label. The warning was approved by the legislature and added to state code.
SB 1082 — Allows premises authorized to serve wine to also serve high alcohol content beer. Requires training for applicants for server permits, consisting of no less than 3.5 hours of alcohol awareness training. Clarifies premises authorized to sell alcoholic beverages to include tables and chairs outside the front wall of the licensee’s building.
Texas
HB1545 — Allows craft breweries to sell beer to-go in Texas. Though wineries have been able to sell to customers for years, breweries have been unable because of alcohol beverage code written in 1935.
HB4542 — Adds brewpub to local tax code for businesses involved in manufacturing and distribution of alcoholic beverages.
SB572 — Expands state cottage food law to include opportunities for people to make low-risk products in home kitchens and sell them to consumers. Cottage food products now include fermented products, pickled vegetables, acidified canned goods and frozen fruits and vegetables.
Utah
HB33 — Defines the term “produce” as a food that is: fruit, vegetable, mix of intact fruits and vegetables, mushroom, sprout from any seed source, peanut tree nut, or herb and a raw agricultural commodity. Known as the Utah Wholesome Food Act, the law also expands the definition of “food establishment” to include farms.
HB453 — Defines specific business that can have a recreational beer license, specifically banning karaoke bars and ax-throwing businesses from getting a license.
SB132 — Drops 3.2% beer in favor of 4% brew, allowing the stronger beers to be sold in grocery and convenience stores. Stronger beers would still be sold in liquor stores operated by the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Vermont
SB113 — Bans single-use plastic bags on July 1, 2020 and requires a fee of at least 10 cents for paper bags. Bans polystyrene foam contains, plastic stirrers and plastic straws.
Virginia
HB1960 — Allows distillers to product and market low alcohol volume products.
HB2634 — Makes every “dry” county in the state a “wet” county. Allows sale of mixed beverages by licensed restaurants (and the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority) by any municipality. If the county, town or district holds a referendum and the majority vote prohibits alcohol sales, then alcohol sales are banned in that jurisdiction.