Florida Beverage Legislation: 2019 Pre-Session Review of Beverage Bills

The 2019 Session of the Florida Legislature will include consideration of a number of bills affecting breweries, wineries, distilleries, distributors, and consumers.

The 2019 regular session of the Florida Legislature kicks off Tuesday, March 5, 2019. This 2-month session will see the consideration of a number of bills that could affect the Florida beverage industry as soon as July.

For a refresher on how a bill goes from being introduced to becoming law in Florida, check out the Florida Senate’s Idea-to-Law Flowchart and the Florida League of City’s short video: Florida’s Legislative Process 101.

The following chart provides a summary of this session’s beverage-focused bills. We’ll check back in on the status of these bills at end of the session.

Bill #	Sponsor	Similar Bills	Summary	Status
SB 220	Brandes	HB 907	Eliminates container size restrictions for wine and cider Eliminates “full course” requirement for taking home unconsumed wine Expands definition of “craft distillery” to 250,000 gallons per year Allows craft distilleries to sell up to 75,000 gallons in gift shop without per customer restriction	2/22/2019 Senate – Now in Innovation, Industry, and Technology
SB 672	Rader	HB 853	Florida Beverage Container Deposit Act Requires dealers and consumers to pay a deposit fee for specific beverage containers, including alcoholic beverage cans, glasses, and kegs Authorizes deposit refunds to be paid by the vendor or redemption centers that are registered with the Florida Department of Revenue	2/15/2019 Senate – Referred to Environment and Natural Resources; Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government; Appropriations
SB 894	Stargel	HB 6037	Repeals Florida Statutes Section 564.05, relating to the limitations of the size of individual wine containers	2/19/2019 Senate – Referred to Innovation, Industry, and Technology; Commerce and Tourism; Rules
SB 1304	Mayfield	HB 903	Authorizes a brewery to transfer to its licensed facility certain malt beverages that are brewed by another manufacturer Authorizes a brewery to terminate a contract with a distributor under certain circumstances. Revises requirements relating to distributors’ warehouse inventory and sales Provides an exception to the come-to-rest requirement for certain deliveries made by specified manufacturers Deletes a prohibition on manufacturers with a vendor’s license making certain deliveries, etc.	2/22/2019 Senate – Filed
HB 853	Stark	SB 672	Florida Beverage Container Deposit Act Requires dealers and consumers to pay a deposit fee for specific beverage containers, including alcoholic beverage cans, glasses, and kegs Authorizes deposit refunds to be paid by the vendor or redemption centers that are registered with the Florida Department of Revenue	2/28/2019 House – Referred to Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee; Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee; State Affairs Committee
HB 903	Toledo	SB 1304	Authorizes a brewery to transfer to its licensed facility certain malt beverages that are brewed by another manufacturer Authorizes a brewery to terminate a contract with a distributor under certain circumstances. Revises requirements relating to distributors’ warehouse inventory and sales Provides an exception to the come-to-rest requirement for certain deliveries made by specified manufacturers Deletes a prohibition on manufacturers with a vendor’s license making certain deliveries, etc.	2/28/2019 House – Referred to Business and Professions Subcommittee; Government Operations and Technology Appropriations Subcommittee; Commerce Committee
HB 1219	Sabatini		Authorizes licensed vendor of alcoholic beverages to allow dogs in certain designated areas on their licensed premises Authorizes malt beverages to be packaged in 2 liter containers Repeals provisions relating to limitations on size of individual wine containers Eliminates container size restrictions for wine and cider Eliminates “full course” requirement for taking home unconsumed wine Expands definition of “craft distillery” to 250,000 gallons per year Allows craft distilleries to sell up to 75,000 gallons in gift shop without per customer restriction	3/1/2019 House – Filed
HB 1229	Raschein		Authorizes a craft distillery to hold multiple vendor’s licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages Permits craft distilleries to conduct tastings and sell distilled spirits at fairs, trade shows, and festivals Authorizes certain craft distilleries to transfer distilled spirits to its vendor’s licensed premises, to be licensed as distributor, to conduct spirituous beverage tastings at specified licensed premises	3/1/2019 House – Filed
HB 6037	Stark	SB 894	Repeals Florida Statutes Section 564.05, relating to the limitations of the size of individual wine containers	2/13/2019 House – Referred to Business and Professions Subcommittee; Commerce Committee

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