Bill Text: CA AR28 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relative to California Beer Distributor Month.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-05-30 - Read. Adopted. (Ayes 71. Noes 0. Page 5141.). [AR28 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AR28-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: HR 28	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hall

                        MAY 14, 2012

   Relative to California Beer Distributor Month.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
             HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST



   WHEREAS, With the passage of the 21st Amendment to the United
States Constitution, California's beer distributors have been
licensed and regulated under the state-based, three tier system that
provides traceability, transparency, and accountability in alcohol
taxation and regulation in the United States. Our system of
distribution is unmatched by any other country in the world for
bringing consumers unsurpassed choice and value. It has produced an
open and orderly market that maximizes brand and price competition,
encourages independent wholesale distribution that removes barriers
to new malt beverage entry, promotes efficient and responsible
service to all licensed retailers, and protects consumers from
counterfeit or adulterated products that are commonly found outside
the United States; and
   WHEREAS, California's beer distributors can buy from many brewers
and importers for sale and distribution to supply a diverse portfolio
of local, regional, national, and internationally sourced beers to
all licensed retailers. Distributors provide the infrastructure to
meet the retailer's need for an efficient, point of contact system
for delivery of a vast multiplicity of brands and meet the brewer's
infrastructure need for widespread distribution, thus giving
consumers over 13,000 brand choices from megabrands to craft-brewed
micros and imports at competitive prices; and
   WHEREAS, California's beer distributors are among the state's
leading employers. Located in the state's 58 counties, beer
distributors contribute nine hundred thirty-one million six hundred
sixty-eight thousand one hundred fourteen dollars ($931,668,114)
annually to California's economy in direct wages and health care
benefits to their 11,743 employees; and
   WHEREAS, California's beer distributors are primarily family
businesses spanning three-generations with a long-term commitment to
expanding the economic and civic vibrancy of their communities and to
growing an ever stronger family business for the benefit of their
employees and future generations; and
   WHEREAS, California's beer distributors are investing millions in
alternative energy technologies to reduce their carbon footprint in
their warehouses, on our roads, and in the marketplace to improve our
environment. Beer distributors' warehouses are powered by solar
energy systems, hybrid and flex fuel vehicles are an integral part of
their fleet mix, and energy efficient refrigeration keeps the beer
chilled. Lighting retrograde programs in warehouses use
motion-activation to turn the lights on when it is time to load beer
and use skylights and fluorescent lights to cut electrical
consumption; and
   WHEREAS, California beer distributors are also promoting
sustainable solutions through the recycling of plastic and cardboard
packaging waste and sourcing vendors to purchase the baled used
shrink-wrap and cardboard. These conservation practices have reduced
the use of energy and raw materials and have minimized the amounts of
waste going to California's landfills; and
   WHEREAS, California benefits from a single point-of-contact, the
beer distributor, to make sure that taxes and the California
Redemption Value (CRV) on beverage containers are collected.
California beer distributors are the link to beverages brought in
from out-of-state that need to be tracked back to the point of
manufacture for state tax purposes. Beer distributors create a paper
trail for tracing sales and ensuring the full collection of all
sales, excise taxes, and CRV; and
   WHEREAS, Most importantly, because of California beer
distributors, the public is assured of product safety. The motivation
to counterfeit exists in the United States but is not present here
because of the beer distributors' ability to track the product from
one point, one source, and if beer should ever be adulterated, the
ability to rapidly account for and retrieve the product from the
retail shelf; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the
Assembly hereby proclaims May 2012, as California Beer Distributor
Month; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author appropriate distribution.