The 2024 legislative session will begin January 8, 2024. The Arizona Legislature
convenes each year on the second Monday in January to meet in regular session.
The purpose of the regular session is to have Arizona legislators consider any
changes to Arizona’s laws and to appropriate money for the operation of State
government. While some states put limits on the length of their legislative
sessions, Arizona does not. Therefore, the legislative session ends only when the
Legislature deems that their work is done and does not end on any specific date.
In recent years, the sessions have extended until the end of June, with the 2023
session extending until July 30.
For liquor legislation, the common committees in which liquor bills are considered
in the House and Senate are the Commerce Committees. These committees
meet weekly throughout the session and generally consider all business – related
legislation introduced in the Legislature, as well as licensing – related proposals
for individuals and entities. It is in those committees that bills are presented and
considered in formal hearings. In these committees, testimony is presented on
the bills, and the bills are often further amended with additional recommendations.
The 2024 legislative session will be a little bit different. While the House maintains
its Commerce Committee chaired by Representative Justin Wilmeth, the Senate
has eliminated their Commerce Committee. As a result, it is believed that liquor
legislation will be considered in the Senate by the Senate Finance Committee,
chaired by Senator J.D. Mesnard.
It is our understanding that Representative Matt Gress intends to be the sponsor
of the 2024 omnibus liquor bill. That means that the bill will be considered first in
the House of Representatives, assigned to the House Commerce Committee.
Assuming that the omnibus liquor bill successfully passes through the House of
Representatives, it will then begin the same process again in the Senate.
ALBA will closely follow the introduction of the bill, the assignment to Committee,
the Committee hearings and the following legislative process. We will report
progress in the ALBA newsletter.
Although not “official“, every year at the Arizona Legislature there has traditionally been a
“liquor omnibus bill.” This is a bill that is the result of the entire industry collaborating
necessary changes to Arizona’s liquor laws, and then developing a consensus list of
changes. Any objection by any member of the group removes the legislative item from the
omnibus bill. The particular liquor interest can still have that separate subject introduced as a
separate bill, but it no longer carries the title of a provision of the omnibus bill.
It is important for supporters of liquor industry measures to have their requested provisions in
the omnibus bill, because the omnibus bill carries a certain amount of weight as having been
pre-approved by the entire industry and at least not opposed by the DLLC.
Work on the 2024 omnibus bill began this past September. The industry group formulating the
bill has met three times and will meet one more time in December. While the specific terms of
the bill have not been formally adopted as yet, here are some of the provisions that will likely
be included in the legislation:
Possibly, also, there may be other proposed changes as well. We will write again when the
omnibus bill has been finalized. One proposed change would allow craft brewers to have their
product made by another brewer, under certain specified conditions. Secondly, there is a
proposal to make a change in the “cocktails to go” program that would allow a restaurant to
continue to operate in the program if 90% of its receipts were from food, even though its “to
go” alcohol receipts exceeded 30% of the overall receipts of the restaurant. There has not yet
been agreement by the liquor omnibus group on these two proposals, and they may or may
not be included in the final draft of the liquor omnibus bill.
Respectfully,
Don Isaacson
ISAACSON LAW FIRM, P.C.
Arizona Licensed Beverage Association
8155 North 24th Ave. Suite A, Phoenix, Arizona 85021, United States
Copyright © 2024 Arizona Licensed Beverage Association - All Rights Reserved.
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