Legislative Battle Comes a Brewing to Annapolis

Maryland’s small, independent breweries are battling a piece of legislation currently before the Maryland State Senate that would curtail tap room hours, limit collaborations and contract brewing, and leave breweries’ tap rooms at the mercy of mercurial county governments. A growing chorus of craft beer fans has joined these breweries in pushing back on the legislation and calling for its amendment.

Maryland HB 1283 (2017) passed the House on Saturday by a vote of 139-0. It remarkably went from having one sponsor in committee (Majority Whip Delegate Talmadge Branch, D-Baltimore City) to a full mark-up and unanimous passage in a matter of three days. This happened during the rapid fire legislative period before the “crossover” day, which is the pivotal date for a bill to clear one chamber of the legislature in order to have time for consideration and passage before the end of the year’s legislative calendar. The bill is now under consideration in the Senate Committee on Education, Healt