There are no such things as total victories when it comes to the annual legislative session in Santa Fe, but New Mexico’s craft breweries will take a small win from Monday’s House Taxation and Revenue Committee.

“There was an amendment proposed by one of the representatives excluding people that have a small brewer license, winegrower license, or craft (distiller) license,” said New Mexico Brewers Guild executive director Ebbie Edmonston. “All of your craft alcohol producers, basically, are now excluded from HB417.”

House Bill 417 proposed levying a new 6-percent surtax on all alcohol sales, and would have affected both draft pours and package sales at breweries. Thanks to an amendment added to the bill Monday, breweries and their fellow craft producers are now exempt from the tax for anything sold directly from the brewery or any offsite location under the brewery’s license.

“A taproom is still under their license,” Edmonston said. “We’re hoping that this is going to drive people to taprooms, purchasing directly from breweries.”

However, as noted, there are no total victories. Breweries that package and distribute to stores, or that sell kegs to bars and restaurants, will see those products slapped with the tax.

“If for example, a Bosque (taproom) is selling their beer to-go from their location, the tax won’t be imposed,” Edmonston said. “If you’re getting a Bosque beer at Total Wine, it will be imposed there.”

There was an attempt to also exempt restaurants from the tax did not pass. The amended bill will now head to the house floor, though a hearing date has not been scheduled yet (we will update this when it is posted on the New Mexico Legislature website). From there, it would go to the senate, and then on to the governor’s desk, with more changes possible along the way.

“There’s still a good chance this may not progress further (than the house floor),” Edmonston said. “We’re happy with the amendment, but the bill isn’t finalized.”

While there are no other specific bills rolling through the legislature in regards to the excise tax itself, which is separate from this new tax, breweries have still asked the Guild to keep an eye out for any other bills being introduced in this 60-day session. The Guild is also monitoring the Paid Family Medical Leave Act that is moving through the legislature, as that will affect all small businesses in New Mexico. Edmonston said the excise tax and the PFMLA were the two main areas of interest among the Guild membership prior to the start of the session.

For HB417, the Guild is not calling upon craft beer lovers to speak up too loudly, but if anyone wishes to reach out to their representatives, they just ask people to be educated on the subject matter and, of course, to be polite.

“If you feel strongly about an issue, contact your representatives,” Edmonston said. “You also gotta do a little research, see where the bill is now. You don’t want to call someone who doesn’t know about the issue. Be polite, be kind. All the representatives are dealing with so many things. They also have personal lives. You don’t need to be super mean about something. If you are passionate about it, get that across.”

The Crew will continue to follow this legislative session, which concludes March 22. A big thanks to Ebbie for taking time out of her very busy day to chat over the phone.

— Stoutmeister