LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate on Tuesday approved Sen. Roger Hauck’s legislation to support Michigan beer producers, distributors and retailers.
“These comprehensive and long-overdue updates to our liquor regulations will help support thousands of local jobs and improve the system for everyone — from local microbrewers to mom-and-pop retail stores,” said Hauck, R-Mt. Pleasant. “These changes are especially good for Michigan consumers and our economy. I have worked on these reforms for years, and this package would protect wholesalers from bounced payments and give producers greater flexibility to offer a larger variety of products.”
Senate Bill 512 would make numerous updates to the Liquor Control Code, including changing the definition of beer to include both alcoholic and nonalcoholic products and permitting a wholesaler to sell nonalcoholic beverages to a brewer or microbrewer to sell at their approved tasting room for on- or off-premises consumption.
The bill also includes reforms from SB 731 of 2024, which Hauck sponsored last year, to address insufficient funds paid to wholesalers and license revocation.
Under the bill, if a retailer makes a payment to a wholesaler that has been dishonored for any reason, the retailer must pay an administrative fee that increases with each dishonored payment. The Liquor Control Commission could suspend the license of a retailer for 14 days if the retailer has made six or more insufficient payments to a wholesaler.
Hauck’s legislation, SB 513, seeks to ensure that a distributor retains exclusive rights to distribute products they have promoted and invested in while allowing producers flexibility to establish their own distribution agreements.
“This is all about supporting Michigan’s craft beer industry, which accounts for more than $140 million in wages and has an economic impact of over $600 million in our state.”
###