[bonjour]

For the work you do behind the scenes.  Michigan, and several other states, are having some fair use law issues.
The get the word to your rep message.

Dear AHA, Brewers Association and Support Your Local Brewery Members,

The AHA is supporting an effort by Michigan homebrewers to pass legislation that would allow homebrewers to serve homebrew at meetings held at Michigan breweries. We need your help getting this bill passed.

Current Michigan regulations prohibit the serving of homebrew for any purpose at microbreweries or brewpubs. House Bill 4061, sponsored by homebrewer Representative Doug Geiss, would allow homebrew to be served at licensed Michigan breweries for activities such as club meetings and competitions.   . . .

Doug responded

From Rep. Doug Giess:

Committee hearing went very well today.  I expect the bill to be voted out of committee next week.  Getting these commitments from members is very useful. Members have been getting messages/phone calls from AHA members, so the push from you was worthwhile.

-Doug

We are not there yet, but we are closer.  Again thanks to the AHA who initiated this action.

This IS one of your member benefits.

[tschmidlin]

Awesome, thanks for the update Fred.

[denny]

Cool, Fred, and good luck on going the rest of the way!  Even with the friendly legislators and environment we had here for our bill, Gary and the AHA were invaluable in making sure we got a great bill passed.

[bluesman]

Wow...very encouraging news Fred! 

Keep up the fabulous work.

[Crispy275]

And thank you Rep. Douglas Geiss, both a good friend and fellow homebrewer who has worked on this legislation for two years now, meeting with the LCC, various sub-sommittee members and continued to keep this effort going amidst all the other important issues that our state faces - cheers friend!

[punatic]

Good stuff guys!  It's really ecouraging to see representatives working for their constituents!   Ah, the American way survives.

[Crispy275]

There was another request from the AHA last week through their Legislative Action Alert for Michigan homebrewers to contact their local Michigan Senate & Rep. officials.

Rep. Doug Geiss indicates that it will be on the House floor either tomorrow (Wednesday, June 22) or Thursday. If you can spare 2-3 minutes, this is the final push and we need all the support we can muster! And if you know microbrewery or brew pub owners/employees who would be willing to do the same, let them know that thier voices are important to this bill as well.

Who knows, it could be legal to have a homebrew club meeting in licensed Michigan establishments before the 4th of July if things go our way! Keeping my fingers crossed!

[wpshadowens]

A BIG Thank You to Fred and Crispy as well for all that you both do to support the Michigan homebrewing community. It's your passion and dedication, as well as that of the AHA and it's governing body, that helps get legislation like this passed. Now let's hope for positve results!

[wpshadowens]

Just got some good news regarding this bill:

Dear Mr. Shadowens:
 
The House of Representatives passed House Bill 4061 by a vote of 105-5 earlier today.  I supported the measure and am hopeful that it will be acted up by the State Senate in a timely manner.  If you haven't already done so, you may want to take a moment to contact Senator Brandenburg (senjbrandenburg@senate.mi.gov), who represents Macomb Township, and Senator Tory Rocca (sentrocca@senate.mi.gov), who chairs the Senate Committee that will consider the bill, to let them know of your support for the measure.
 
Finally, if I can be of any service with legislative or state matters in the future, please do not hesitate to call upon me.
 
Sincerely,
Representative Ken Goike
33rd District

[denny]

Good news!

[bluesman]

Fingers and toes crossed. 

Fantastic news!