Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/40615
END POST It's time to care about CARE heers erupted at wineries across America in May 2005 when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the decision in Granholm v. Heald. In it, the Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that states could not discriminate between in-state and out-of-state wineries and either had to open direct shipping for all, or shut it down for all. Fortunately, almost all states chose the path of liberalization. Since then, however, some state legislatures have tried to snarl the authority of Granholm through red tape. Consider Massachusetts, where in 2006 legislators placed a low limit, known as a production cap, on the size of wineries that could ship their bottles freely. Convenient- ly, that allowed 100% of in-state win- eries to ship directly to consumers while disallowing virtually all winer- ies from outside the state, effective- ly reverting to the status quo before Granholm. However, the federal appeals court ruled in 2010 that the law was discriminatory and unconsti- tutional. While we all know what's at stake – connecting consumers with wines they want and providing critical direct sales to wineries – the post-Gran- holm machinations in Massachusetts underscore which policy-making ven- ues favor whom. Distributors favor legislatures whose members are in a quasi-constant need of financing their re-elections. But consumers, retailers and wineries rely on the unelected judges to uphold the Com- merce Clause of the U.S. Constitu- tion in the face of the ever-changing state laws on direct shipping. In this light, the bill H.R. 1161 introduced to the 112th Congress this year is particularly brazen. The proposed legislation, known as the 82 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT SEPT - OCT 2011 Community Regulatory Effective- ness (CARE) Act and written by the National Beer Wholesalers of Ameri- ca, is a carbon copy of H.R. 5034 that was introduced in the previous Con- gress. It would remove Commerce Clause protections in the wine, beer and spirits industries and thus pro- hibit the appeal of laws viewed by wine consumers, retailers or winer- ies as discriminatory. That's right: If a law gets passed at the state level prohibiting out-of-state shipments, it couldn't subsequently be challenged. Craig Wolf, head of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association, connected the dots, saying, "We are supporting this legislation in an effort to ensure that policy disputes are resolved by local elected offi- cials rather than unelected and unac- countable federal judges." Wineries, retailers and consumers can fight this at the ballot box but also through the e-mail inbox. More and more people have put wine on their dining room tables in the past 20 years, making the United States the largest wine consuming country in the world – even ahead of France. The popularity in wine has driven a growth in wineries, too, and there are now more than 6,000 from sea to shining sea. But in between these two poles, the distributor tier has experienced a sharp contraction; the top two distributors now have $13 billion in revenues between them. A fraction of these revenues makes it to the campaign coffers of elected officials across the country, and with the landmark Citizens Unit- ed v. Federal Election Commission decision last year by the Supreme Court, it's possible that these corpo- rations could spend freely on individ- ual campaigns. It's easy to dismiss H.R. 1161 TYLER COLMAN Tyler Colman, author of the wine blog Dr. Vino, teaches wine classes at New York Uni- versity and the University of Chicago, and wrote the book "Wine Politics: How Gov- ernments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink." simply as a fob to donors; members of Congress frequently introduce bills to placate a base of voters or donors, knowing full well that the initiative will never see the full leg- islative light of day. However, H.R. 1161 cuts across party lines, garner- ing more than 70 sponsors in the last Congress. Further, there were two hearings in the Judiciary Committee, in which both the committee chair and the ranking member are large beneficiaries of wholesaler contribu- tions. Continued vigilance will be required, especially at the state level, if direct shipping is to be pro- tected. Bills that favor wholesalers frequently get introduced with little fanfare, such as A06884 in the New York assembly that would eliminate the legal "gray market" for bringing small-production fine and rare wines into the state. But H.R. 1161 is the big one. So what are you waiting for? Vote with your keyboard and write your rep- resentative expressing your views. Consider mentioning it in your win- ery newsletter or prominently on your website. The more people who know that direct shipping could be in jeopardy, the more voices there will be against it, standing up to the moneyed interests of wholesalers. I know it's a quaint idea, but it would be great to make votes triumph over campaign financing on this issue. (Opinions expressed in this col- umn do not necessarily reflect those of Vineyard & Winery Man- agement.) Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwm-online.com. WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM