Mississippi Homebrew Legalization

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barefootbrewer

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Bills to legalize homebrewing in the State of Mississippi have been introduced. They have both been referred to Committee. Now is the time to contact your Representatives and Senators concerning the Bills. Legalizing homebrewing in Mississippi has a real shot at passing with everyone’s help.

The Bills have been introduced by Senator Baria (SB 2717) and Representative Moak (HB 732). The contact info of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committees that the bills have been referred to are listed below. Written letter and phone calls are more persuasive than emails.

House Bill 732 has been Referred to the Ways and Means Committee:

Chair:
Percy W. Watson
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
(601)544-6490 (H)
(601)545-1051 (W)
[email protected]

Vice Chair:
David Norquist
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
(662)843-9183 (H)
(662)843-6171 (W)
[email protected]

Senate Bill SB 2717 has been referred to the Finance Committee.

Chair:
Dean Kirby
Room: 215 C
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
(601)359-3246
(601)932-1966 (H)
(601)939-5968 (W)
[email protected]

Vice Chair:
Eugene Clarke
Room: 405 D
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
(601)359-3172
(662)827-7261 (W)
(662)827-7264 (F)
[email protected]

Of course, talking with any of the member on either Committee would be helpful, especially if they are Representatives or Senators from your area. In addition,
contacting your local Representatives and Senators and letting them know
where you stand will help when the Bills come out of Committee. Please be polite and professional.

Here is a link to find your local officials:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/
http://www.capitolconnect.com/demoassoc1/legislatorsearch.aspx

This is time sensitive - we need to get the word out fast and clear.

Gary Glass, Director of the American Homebrewers Associations (AHA) and the AHA itself is in full support of this issue and has been very helpful to RYP to get the Bills to each House. Gary will be getting information out to the 20,000 AHA Members to help spread the word. Here is a link to the AHA's talking points to help you:

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/government-affairs/talking-points

We also have permission to say that they are in full support of our efforts.

Thanks!
Ken
 
mississippi people, please contact your reps and senators.

if you know them personally, CALL THEM!

we could possibly get this through this year, but it's an uphill battle.

rep. moak is supposed to be pretty strong up there at getting stuff to the floor and the vice chair of the ways and means committee is in full support of this bill.

make a noise people. let's get out of the dark ages.
 
It a screwy law we have here now as homebrewing wine is legal... I've talked with my Representative, David Nordquist, and he thinks this will pass...
 
It a screwy law we have here now as homebrewing wine is legal... I've talked with my Representative, David Nordquist, and he thinks this will pass...

dave is a really good guy. i used to work with him when i lived in NOMS. he's confident it can get a majority vote, but not that it will get 3/5ths if required.
 
I think we've got a shot if the homebrewers get the word out to the Reps. Thanks guys.
 
I hope you get a bill passed and into law, I love the state and it is on my short list to move to once I get out of AZ. bootleg beer brewing is not on my list of things to be arrested for. although it is tempting!
 
For those interested. The House Bill 732 is currently in the Ways and Means Committee. Here is the contact info.

House of Representatives: In Favor of HB 732 (Legalize Homebrewing in MS)
Ways and Means Committee Contacts
(These are contacts at the Capital, not home contacts. Those can be found on the MS Legislature Homepage).

Chairman:
Percy W. Watson: [email protected]

Vice- Chairman:
David Norquist: [email protected]

Willie Bailey: [email protected]
Larry Baker: [email protected]
Earl S. Banks: 601-359-9396
Ed Blackmon Jr. [email protected]
Kelvin Buck: [email protected]
Credell Calhoun: [email protected]
Alyce Clarke: [email protected] 601-359-3096
Angela Cockerham: [email protected]
Jim Ellington: [email protected] 601-359-2431
Tyrone Ellis: [email protected] 601-359-3335
James Evans: [email protected] 601-359-2428
Mark Formby: [email protected] 601-359-3364
Frances Fredericks: [email protected] 601-359-2429
Jack Gadd: 601-359-5140
Bobby B. Howell:
Robert Johnson III: [email protected] (601)359-3770
Bobby Moak: [email protected] *Bill Author*
John L. Moore [email protected] (601)359-3311
Harvey Moss
David W. Myers [email protected]
Willie Perkins Sr. [email protected]
Walter L. Robinson [email protected]
Ray Rogers [email protected]
Bobby Shows [email protected]
Ferr Smith [email protected]
Jeffrey C. Smith [email protected]
Gary V. Staples [email protected]
Jerry R. Turner [email protected]
Tommy L. Woods [email protected]
Henry Zuber III [email protected]
 
I feel for you bro'. I'm not sure we will get our bill passed this year, either.
 
Why any human being would live under such state control is simply beyond me.
 
it's like my whole life i have defended this state when people make statements about how backward it is. but throughout life, i have slowly developed some of the same perceptions and come to some of the same realizations.


but they did pass the legislation to make ephedrine/pseudophedrine a scheduled/perscription only drug.
 
it's like my whole life i have defended this state when people make statements about how backward it is. but throughout life, i have slowly developed some of the same perceptions and come to some of the same realizations.


but they did pass the legislation to make ephedrine/pseudophedrine a scheduled/perscription only drug.

yeah, that ticked me off. they started discussing that over the weekend and passed it on like tuesday.....

for the most part, we deserve everything that is said about "us" in mississippi......
 
Oh I don't mean to say anything about the State itself.

I mean, you guys have a nice river and are the only state whose spelling involves a rhythmic chant. It's kinda groovy.

But for someone who followed the Oregon trail as far as he could to get away from such control over his life, making the decision to live in a state that does not permit you to brew your own beer is still beyond me.
 
Why any human being would live under such state control is simply beyond me.


that's a tough one.... many of us have family here. i have both my job and all my rental properties to manage. that would be impossible for me to do from elsewhere.

making the best of a bad situation and hoping for the best in the future.
 
Oh I don't mean to say anything about the State itself.

I mean, you guys have a nice river and are the only state whose spelling involves a rhythmic chant. It's kinda groovy.

But for someone who followed the Oregon trail as far as he could to get away from such control over his life, making the decision to live in a state that does not permit you to brew your own beer is still beyond me.

dude, our state has many drawbacks. i'm not giving our state a pass at all. most of the **** you hear is probably true. but.... we've got some of the nicest people in the world down here and southern hospitality is alive and well for sure.

it's a PITA to have to order ingredients to brew beer, but it can be done with a little pre-planning.

i recently found out that my great grandfather was a homebrewer back in the late 1800's, so we are doing it, law be damned.
 
Wait, you CAN brew you just have to order your goods from out of state?

we have an auto parts store that has a "wine room" that sells a few malt exracts and a few hops along with some dry yeast.

if you were to "get caught" brewing though, it would be a crime.
 
NO. making wine is legal, but brewing beer is illegal. since it's illegal, there are no retail stores for buying grain, hops, etc. we have to order our **** from out of state in order to brew.

and as to why live here, i am with deepsouth. i don't think i could leave my family behind and i know my wife wouldn't leave her family. i guess that sense of belonging and cohesion is one of the positive things about living here. now, if i had the money, i would pay to move all my family somewhere else.
 
Is it something that is heavily enforced?

Are Brewing Busts a common thing?

I have to think this dates back to the days of illegal moonshine, but the fact that you can make wine and not beer is a serious head scratcher.

How does the law differntiate between the 2? You can use fruit but not grain?
 
OKHB2438 goes to committee today.

While homebrewing is not "heavily enforced" it is also not protected from nosey neighbors who may opt to call the police on your distillery or meth lab.

Some events have been closed due to the consumption of illeagally produced strong beer.

Beer was simply not something people made much of in teh day the laws were established.

the law differentiates by the language of "alcholoic beverages produced by means of cereal grains". And yes, it does spawn from distillation since things like Whiskey are made first from grain mashes.
 
Is it something that is heavily enforced?

Are Brewing Busts a common thing?

I have to think this dates back to the days of illegal moonshine, but the fact that you can make wine and not beer is a serious head scratcher.

How does the law differntiate between the 2? You can use fruit but not grain?



The wine law says that you can use ingredients native to Mississippi - so technically only anything grown here.

While busts are not too common for a beer brewer (but is quite possible), the law makes it quite difficult to do anything in public - such as a festival or contest. That kind of puts a damper on club events.
 
if you were asking about mississippi, ^^^^^ (same as what GilaMinumBeer and deepsouth said basically).
in my years of law enforcement, i've never heard of anyone being arrested for brewing beer. i have been on a few raids with ABC to disrupt some illegally operating bars and i know they do deal with illegal distilleries. but from the best of my understanding, you really have to push the issue or be producing mass amounts in order to be arrested or fined. there are only 14 ABC agents in mississippi and they have a lot better and far more imprtant things to deal with than me making 5 gallons of homebrew on my back porch. nonetheless, it's illegal and that is a problem for people like me.

super ninja edit: apparently everyone decided to post while i was typing. Congrats to OK for making MS look even more ass backwards.
 
if you were asking about mississippi, ^^^^^ (same as what GilaMinumBeer and deepsouth said basically).
in my years of law enforcement, i've never heard of anyone being arrested for brewing beer. i have been on a few raids with ABC to disrupt some illegally operating bars and i know they do deal with illegal distilleries. but from the best of my understanding, you really have to push the issue or be producing mass amounts in order to be arrested or fined. there are only 14 ABC agents in mississippi and they have a lot better and far more imprtant things to deal with than me making 5 gallons of homebrew on my back porch. nonetheless, it's illegal and that is a problem for people like me.

super ninja edit: apparently everyone decided to post while i was typing. Congrats to OK for making MS look even more ass backwards.


are you still in law enforcement?
 
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