On Friday, Governor Bruce Rauner (R-IL) signed a bill into law that toughens the oversight and enforcement of shipping wine into Illinois, as well as transporting alcohol across state lines.

 

Senate Bill 2989 enhances penalties on this illegally shipping or transporting alcohol into the state. It also raises fees for alcohol manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers and establishes a much clearer audit process for all alcohol entering into the state. The bill explicitly prohibits retailer direct-to-consumer wine shipping, and a retailer that does ship into Illinois will face felony charges.

 

The bill clarifies exactly what taxes need to be paid on wine shipments,and will prevent the prevalence of lawsuits that have sprung up in the state related to the payment of sales tax on alcohol sold over the internet.

 

Next Week

Next week we will review the process for wineries to register as food facilities with the Food and Drug Administration

 

 

Questions? Contact Michael Kaiser, Director of Public Affairs at mkaiser@wineamerica.org