Sen. Roger Hauck’s legislation to support Michigan beer producers, distributors and retailers has now been sent to the governor.

“Once signed by the governor, these long-overdue updates to our liquor laws will help support thousands of good-paying jobs and give consumers more options,” said Hauck, R-Mt. Pleasant. “These commonsense changes will be good for everyone in Michigan’s craft beer industry, which accounts for more than $140 million in wages for our workers and contributes over $600 million to our economy.”

Senate Bill 512 would make numerous updates to the Liquor Control Code, including changing the definition of beer to cover both alcoholic and nonalcoholic products and permitting a wholesaler to sell nonalcoholic beverages to a brewer or microbrewer for further sale at an approved tasting room for on- or off-premises consumption.

The bill also includes reforms from Senate Bill 731 of 2024, which Hauck sponsored last year to address insufficient funds paid to wholesalers and license revocation.

“After years of work on these reforms, I’m proud to have finally reached an agreement on improvements that protect wholesalers from bounced payments and give producers greater flexibility in the types of products they can make and offer,” Hauck said.

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 a retailer’s license for 14 days if the retailer has made six or more insufficient payments to a wholesaler.

Hauck’s legislation, Senate Bill 513, would ensure that distributors retain exclusive rights to products they have promoted and invested in while allowing producers flexibility to establish their own distribution agreements.

The legislation was approved by the senate on Dec. 2.

_{Release courtesy of Sen. Roger Hauck.}