Jefferson City

Legislature should protect Missouri jobs, consumers Posted: Thursday, May 2, 2013 3:05 am

As a community newspaper dedicated to uplifting the African-American community in St. Louis, we seldom have anything to say about alcohol other than in our popular Partyline column, where we follow activities in our lively local nightclub scene. And as advocates for a community that faces so many challenges and has so much unrealized potential, it is unusual for us to argue that we should keep anything as it is. However, we encourage the legislators who represent our community to vote in support of two bills that do little more than keep our existing laws for liquor distribution the way they are, simply because the alternatives favored by the powerful business interests trying to defeat this legislation are worse.

Senate Bill 365 and House Bill 759 are being advanced to codify an existing way of doing business that has been in place for 40 years. At stake is the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which repealed prohibition and gave states the right to regulate the distribution and sale of alcohol. A 2011 federal ruling has created a window of opportunity that multinational suppliers and national mega-wholesalers are seeking to exploit; SB365 and HB759 seek to preserve the status quo and protect the interests of Missouri wholesalers. The 34-member Missouri Beer Wholesaler Association, $430 million Missouri-based Major Brands, Missouri Vintners Association and two St. Louis craft brewers all support the legislation. So do we.

Though the technicalities of Missouri’s liquor franchise laws are complex, they have resulted in market conditions that have encouraged the growth of Missouri wholesalers and the expansion of choice for consumers. SB365 and HB759 would protect Missouri jobs and continue to give small wine, beer and spirits suppliers a way to get their products to market. The legislation protects Missouri businesses and consumers by preventing international conglomerates from working with large out-of-state wholesalers to control the local marketplace, potentially manipulating prices and ultimately limiting consumer choice.

SB 365 and HB 759 would correct a 2011 misinterpretation of Missouri law by a federal court and restore the meaning of state law as previously recognized and upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court. This would preserve Missouri’s three-tier system of alcohol distribution – supplier, wholesale/distributor and retailer – where each tier is specifically regulated by the state and required to be independent of the other two tiers with independent audit protections in place. This system has provided consumers with a variety of product choices and producers with a route to market for their products, regardless of size. It protects small producers, retailers and consumers by ensuring the large suppliers cannot unduly influence decisions, like which brands get sold and how they are priced. It also protects public welfare by creating a transparent supply chain of accountability and traceability for the distribution and sale of alcohol, one of the most dangerous legal substances.

Our community and this state have more pressing problems – the need to expand Medicaid and to mandate universal pre-K education, for starters – but the Republican-dominated Missouri Legislature has not acted favorably on these more urgent matters. At the moment, there is something much more modest this Legislature could do to protect Missouri jobs, consumer choice and transparency in the distribution of the ever-potent alcohol. It could – and should – pass SB 365 and HB 759.