Bill Text: FL S0166 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Craft Distilleries

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-04 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 141 (Ch. 2017-46) [S0166 Detail]

Download: Florida-2017-S0166-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2017                                     SB 166
       
       
        
       By Senator Steube
       
       23-00220-17                                            2017166__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to alcoholic beverages; amending s.
    3         561.221, F.S.; providing that the ownership,
    4         management, operation, or control of up to three
    5         vendor’s licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages
    6         by a certified Florida Craft Distillery is not
    7         prohibited under specified laws; requiring the
    8         Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco to issue
    9         permits to certified Florida Craft Distilleries to
   10         conduct certain tastings and sales; requiring such
   11         distilleries to pay entry fees and have a
   12         representative present during certain events;
   13         authorizing the transfer of wine and distilled spirits
   14         to vendors by specified wineries and distilleries
   15         under certain circumstances; requiring the division to
   16         approve certain storage areas; requiring wineries and
   17         distilleries to report all such transfers to the
   18         division and to include them in monthly excise tax
   19         payments; amending s. 565.03, F.S.; redefining the
   20         term “craft distillery”; providing license fees for
   21         craft distilleries; specifying authorized products for
   22         sale by craft distilleries; providing limitations on
   23         retail sales by craft distilleries to consumers;
   24         authorizing craft distilleries to transfer distilled
   25         spirits under certain conditions; requiring the
   26         division to approve certain storage areas; requiring
   27         distilleries to report all such transfers to the
   28         division and to include them in monthly excise tax
   29         payments; deleting certain prohibitions on the
   30         transfer of a distillery license and affiliated
   31         ownership; authorizing craft distilleries to apply for
   32         a sales room location under certain circumstances;
   33         amending s. 565.17, F.S.; authorizing craft
   34         distilleries to conduct tastings under certain
   35         circumstances; providing an effective date.
   36          
   37  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   38  
   39         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 561.221, Florida
   40  Statutes, is amended to read:
   41         561.221 Licensing of manufacturers and distributors as
   42  vendors and of vendors as manufacturers; conditions and
   43  limitations.—
   44         (1)(a) Nothing contained in s. 561.22, s. 561.42, or any
   45  other provision of the Beverage Law prohibits the ownership,
   46  management, operation, or control of not more than three
   47  vendor’s licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages by a
   48  manufacturer of wine or a certified Florida Craft Distillery who
   49  is licensed and engaged in the manufacture of wine or distilled
   50  spirits in this state, even if such manufacturer is also
   51  licensed as a distributor; provided that no such vendor’s
   52  license is not shall be owned, managed, operated, or controlled
   53  by any licensed manufacturer of wine or any craft distillery
   54  unless the licensed premises of the vendor are situated on
   55  property contiguous to the manufacturing premises of the
   56  licensed manufacturer of wine or distilled spirits or in its
   57  sales room pursuant to s. 565.03.
   58         (b) The Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco shall
   59  issue permits to a certified Florida Farm Winery or a certified
   60  Florida Craft Distillery to conduct tasting and sales of wine or
   61  distilled spirits produced by certified Florida Farm Wineries or
   62  certified Florida Craft Distilleries at Florida fairs, trade
   63  shows, expositions, and festivals. The certified Florida Farm
   64  Winery or certified Florida Craft Distillery shall pay all entry
   65  fees and shall have a winery or distillery representative
   66  present during the event. The permit is limited to the length of
   67  the event.
   68         (c) A certified Florida Farm Winery or certified Florida
   69  Craft Distillery may transfer wine or distilled spirits produced
   70  at such winery or distillery, respectively, out of its federal
   71  bonded space or nonbonded space at its licensed premises or
   72  storage areas to its vendor’s licensed premises or approved
   73  sales room. The division shall approve the storage areas,
   74  provided that each is included in the winery’s or distillery’s
   75  current state tax bond. All such transfers of wine or distilled
   76  spirits shall be reported to the division pursuant to s. 561.55
   77  and included in the winery’s or distillery’s excise tax payment
   78  to the state each month.
   79         Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) and paragraphs
   80  (a) and (c) of subsection (2) of section 565.03, Florida
   81  Statutes, are amended to read:
   82         565.03 License fees; manufacturers, distributors, brokers,
   83  sales agents, and importers of alcoholic beverages; vendor
   84  licenses and fees; craft distilleries.—
   85         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   86         (b) “Craft distillery” means a licensed distillery that
   87  produces 250,000 75,000 or fewer gallons per calendar year of
   88  distilled spirits on its premises and is certified by has
   89  notified the division upon notification in writing of its
   90  decision to qualify as a craft distillery.
   91         (2)(a) A distillery authorized to do business under the
   92  Beverage Law shall pay an annual state license tax for each
   93  plant or branch operating in the state, as follows:
   94         1. If engaged in the business of manufacturing distilled
   95  spirits, a state license tax of $4,000. For a craft distillery
   96  manufacturing distilled spirits, a state license tax shall be
   97  $1,000, provided it is distilling and bottling all of its
   98  distilled products in containers approved for sale.
   99         2. If engaged in the business of rectifying and blending
  100  spirituous liquors and nothing else, a state license tax of
  101  $4,000.
  102         (c) A craft distillery licensed under this section may sell
  103  to consumers, at its souvenir gift shop, branded products
  104  distilled and bottled on its premises in this state in factory
  105  sealed containers approved for sale that are filled at the
  106  distillery for off-premises consumption. Such sales are
  107  authorized only on private property owned or leased by the
  108  distillery which is contiguous to the licensed distillery
  109  premises and at one other approved sales room located in the
  110  same county as the distillery’s production building which shall
  111  be an extension of the craft distillery’s licensed premises in
  112  this state and included on the sketch or diagram defining the
  113  licensed premises submitted with the distillery’s license
  114  application. All sketch or diagram revisions by the distillery
  115  shall require local zoning approval and the division’s approval
  116  verifying that the souvenir gift shop location and all areas
  117  used and operated by the licensed distillery are is owned or
  118  leased by the distillery and on property contiguous to the
  119  distillery’s production building in this state or within the
  120  extended licensed premises.
  121         1. A craft distillery licensed under this section may not
  122  sell any factory-sealed individual containers of spirits except
  123  in face-to-face sales transactions at the craft distillery’s
  124  licensed premises with consumers who are making a purchase of no
  125  more than:
  126         a. Two individual containers of each branded product;
  127         b. Three individual containers of a single branded product
  128  and up to one individual container of a second branded product;
  129  or
  130         c. Four individual containers of a single branded product.
  131         2. Each container sold in face-to-face transactions with
  132  consumers must comply with the container limits in s. 565.10,
  133  per calendar year for the consumer’s personal use and not for
  134  resale and who are present at the distillery’s licensed premises
  135  in this state.
  136         3. A craft distillery licensed under this section must
  137  report to the division within 5 days after it reaches the
  138  production limitations provided in paragraph (1)(b). Any retail
  139  sales to consumers at the craft distillery’s licensed premises
  140  are prohibited beginning the day after it reaches the production
  141  limitation unless it has been issued a vendor’s license at each
  142  craft distillery and additional sales room authorized in s.
  143  561.221.
  144         4. A craft distillery licensed under this section may not
  145  ship or arrange to ship any of its distilled spirits to
  146  consumers and may sell and deliver only to consumers within the
  147  state in a face-to-face transaction at the distillery property.
  148  However, a craft distiller licensed under this section may ship,
  149  arrange to ship, or deliver such spirits to manufacturers of
  150  distilled spirits, wholesale distributors of distilled spirits,
  151  state or federal bonded warehouses, and exporters.
  152         5. A craft distillery may transfer distilled spirits it
  153  manufactures from its federal bonded space or nonbonded space at
  154  its licensed premises or storage areas to its souvenir gift shop
  155  and additional sales room. The division shall approve all
  156  storage areas requested by the craft distillery which are
  157  included in its current state bond. All such transfers of
  158  distilled spirits shall be reported to the division pursuant to
  159  s. 561.55 and included in the excise tax payment due the state
  160  Except as provided in subparagraph 6., it is unlawful to
  161  transfer a distillery license for a distillery that produces
  162  75,000 or fewer gallons per calendar year of distilled spirits
  163  on its premises or any ownership interest in such license to an
  164  individual or entity that has a direct or indirect ownership
  165  interest in any distillery licensed in this state; another
  166  state, territory, or country; or by the United States government
  167  to manufacture, blend, or rectify distilled spirits for beverage
  168  purposes.
  169         6. A craft distillery may include a sales room location
  170  authorized by this subsection on its original license
  171  application or by an amendment to its license application on
  172  forms prescribed by the division shall not have its ownership
  173  affiliated with another distillery, unless such distillery
  174  produces 75,000 or fewer gallons per calendar year of distilled
  175  spirits on each of its premises in this state or in another
  176  state, territory, or country.
  177         Section 3. Section 565.17, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  178  read:
  179         565.17 Beverage tastings by distributors and vendors.—A
  180  licensed distributor of spirituous beverages, or any vendor or
  181  craft distillery, is authorized to conduct spirituous beverage
  182  tastings upon any licensed premises authorized to sell
  183  spirituous beverages by package or for consumption on premises
  184  without being in violation of s. 561.42, provided that the
  185  conduct of the spirituous beverage tasting shall be limited to
  186  and directed toward the general public of the age of legal
  187  consumption.
  188         Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.