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Judge makes Final Ruling: MA Wine Shipment Law Unconstitutional
O’Leary bill eyed for legislative fix in second go-around
Today’s final ruling by the US Court of Appeals found that Massachusetts’ restrictive laws around direct shipment of wine once again violated the inter-state commerce clause. The ruling shifts the focus to the legislature, which will at long last have to establish a non-restrictive, consumer-friendly structure for out-of-state wineries to ship directly to consumers.
“After five years and two federal court decisions, it’s time that we get this right for our constituents,” O’Leary said. “We had a chance in 2006, and unfortunately we responded with a weak and watered-down law that maintained the very restrictions we were told were unconstitutional. Now we have a chance to once and for all craft legislation that will allow the residents of Massachusetts the same rights as everyone else. Given the importance of this issue I expect we will find a solution in the near future.”
Prior to the appellate court’s ruling, Senator O’Leary filed Senate bill 176, An Act Relative to the Direct Shipment of wine. Currently, residents of Massachusetts are unable to purchase wine from 98% of the wineries in the country. With the appellate court’s ruling and the passage of Senate bill 176, a legal structure would be set in place for Massachusetts consumers to receive direct shipments of wine from producers outside of the Commonwealth, and will allow Massachusetts wineries to ship their products to other states.
Senator O’Leary’s bill is currently before the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure where it has already had a hearing and is awaiting action by the committee.
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