Howdy,
As I said previously, the 2 bills in the 114th Congress died when Congress went home for the holidays. They will have to be re-introduced in the 115th Congress. We had more than 68% of the House cosponsor HR 2903 and 51% of the Senate cosponsor S 1562. We hoped to get them voted on before the break but it did not happen - the word was the Congress (now in GOP control) didn't want to waste time before Christmas with legislation that they could get in early 2017.
The HDA is working through our lobbyist to find out what is going on in Congress to get what we started reintroduced. Because of its overall support in Congress, our support in Senate Finance, the TTB and others, we are optimistic that good things will happen soon. All you hear about now is the health care laws. There are several Senators who are very much in favor of seeing this home distilling legalized. There are still a lot of "ifs", but that is the nature of our Congress. When they finish playing to the constituents who voted for them, they hopefully will get down to the business at hand - we need to get past January 20th first. Paul Ryan made it clear in early December that no tax related bills would be dealt with until after the first of the year. They will get around to them - we just hope sooner than later.
The HDA bumper sticker might be a fun idea. There is no sense hiding the fact that you are pro hobby distilling. Lets face it, very few people will now what it is and if they ask you can tell them. We are by no means still in the closet. This is now a very open issue thanks to the HDA. We ask that everyone reading this post contact their Representatives and ask for their support. To see who actually supported the bills last year go to
GovTrack.us. All of the House and Senate representatives who were cosponsors are listed on this site. If your guy(s) are on the list, by all means remind him/her that you voted for them and you need their support in this matter to get it reintroduced and voted on.
The sequester killed the TTB's manpower. They are hiring skilled employees now to approve bottle labels and recipes for alcohol. There have been no more raids like the ones in Florida a couple of years ago. The Administrator of the TTB (John Manfreda) told me he liked my posts so I have to be careful that I don't inadvertently say something he would not like. He told all of us that he was not happy that people were applying for AFPs (alcohol fuel plants) solely for the purpose of hiding a still designed to make drinkable alcohol. I do believe that he would love to have home distilling enforcement off his plate so he could concentrate on other matters.
One more idea. When the new bills get introduced ( and we will let you know as soon as it happens), call or email, text you friends and family in other states and ask them to help our cause by emailing their Reps and Senators. I call this the "Phone a Friend" plan that came from the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire gameshow on TV several years ago.
How much is it worth to you and your friends who would like to distill your own alcohol in the comfort of your home without having to worry about breaking the law?? We need your support and all the other supporters you can send to the HDA. Thanks again for reading
Tom Cowdrey
Member- Hobby Distiller's Association
tocowdrey3@gmail.com
804-296-6194
