North Carolina Legislature Adjourns for 2016 with No Major Changes to ABC Laws

The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned for 2016 with no major changes to North Carolina’s alcohol laws. 

North Carolina legislation that allows wine shippers to file excise tax reports on an annual basis, rather than a monthly basis, passed and went into effect in May 2016.

A provision in North Carolina House Bill 169, which would have authorized distilleries to sell direct to consumers for delivery outside of North Carolina at the distiller’s price, was not included in the final version of the bill and did not pass.

North Carolina Senate Bill 833, which would have reduced the annual registration fees paid by retail beer and wine permit holders based on their annual net profits, also did not pass.

The North Carolina General Assembly will convene the long session on 11 January 2017.  That session could see these issues re-visited, along with other potentially hot issues, including requests by breweries to increase the self-distribution cap.