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Friday, February 24, 2006

Ind. Law - Garton kills wine bill compromise, says let court decide [Updated: See corection re Marion County judge]

"Bill on direct shipping by state wineries killed" is the headline to a story today by Lesley Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier Journal. Some quotes:

The leader of the Indiana Senate killed a bill yesterday that would have allowed Hoosier farm wineries to ship their products directly to customers.

Senate President Pro Tem Robert Garton, R-Columbus, acted because he learned that lawsuits about the issue are pending. * * *

As approved Wednesday by a Senate committee, House Bill 1190 would have permitted wineries to ship two cases of wine per month to existing customers and to new customers whose identification they'd checked in person.

But Garton announced yesterday that he'd sent the bill to the Rules Committee, of which he is chairman, where "it won't be processed further."

The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission stopped all direct shipments from wineries last year, saying that nothing in state law actually permitted them.

Hoosier wineries sued in Marion Circuit Court. A judge has issued a temporary injunction, permitting the shipments to continue until March 1 while lawmakers debate the issue.

But Garton said the legislature doesn't interfere in court cases: "We are not the judicial branch of government." * * *

Senate Minority Leader Richard Young, D-Milltown, said Garton's decision is consistent with a long-standing chamber policy.

"Whenever he's known about situations involving lawsuits, that's what he's done," Young said.

Last week Garton also killed a bill that would have phased out fenced deer hunting after he learned that a suit had been filed to stop the state from shutting a Harrison County operation down in March.

Now really! Senator Garton has just learned about last fall's injunction issued by Judge Dreyer? [Correction: A reader points out that the ruling was issued by Marion Superior Court Judge Thomas Carroll, as attested to by this Nov. 29, 2005 ILB entry].

Niki Kelly of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports in a story headed "Senate leader kills in-state winery bill":

Senate President Pro Tem Robert Garton on Thursday killed a bill – because it could affect pending litigation – that would have allowed Indiana wineries to ship directly to consumers.

“We’re just trying to avoid creating winners and losers,” he said. “We’re not the judicial branch.”

Garton sent House Bill 1190 to the Senate Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee, where he said it will not move forward this session.

He took the action after researching the issue further and realizing there are multiple lawsuits involved.

Garton did the same thing with a bill regarding high-fence deer shooting preserves, which is also being contested in court.

“I wanted to be consistent. I didn’t know any other way to go.”

The decision dooms any movement this session on the wine shipping matter, which bubbled up last year when the Indiana Alcohol Tobacco Commission told wineries to stop shipping to in-state customers.

"Wine-shipping legislation goes sour" is the headline to Michelle McNeal's story in the Indianapolis Star. Some quotes:
A key Senate leader is standing between Hoosiers and doorstep delivery of their favorite wine.

Legislation that would allow wine to be shipped to and from Indiana is stuck in the Senate, probably for good.

Senate President Pro Tempore Robert D. Garton, R-Columbus, refuses to let the bill advance because he doesn't want to get in the middle of a lawsuit involving nine in-state wineries.

Besides affecting Hoosiers' ability to get wine delivered to their homes, blocking the bill could put a dent in state wineries' business if they can't ship their bottles.

This setback, which even Gov. Mitch Daniels' aides are frowning about, comes a day after wineries reached a compromise to let shipments continue in-state and allow wine to be shipped to and from Indiana.

"The governor is interested in achieving a system that gives consumers greater flexibility to purchase wine and allows Indiana-based farm wineries to grow," said Jason Barclay, special counsel to Daniels, who helped broker the compromise and was baffled by the bill's sudden death.

State wineries are fighting in court an Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission order that prohibits wine shipments to Hoosiers. The state order was issued after a U.S. Supreme Court decision required that all wineries abide by the same shipping rules. Because Indiana law bans out-of-state shipments, in-state wineries can't ship, either.

But the Indiana wineries sued and got a Marion County judge to halt that order and let them ship through March 1, until the legislature could decide what to do. Garton is punting the issue back to the courts.

An AP story by Deanna Martin, which appeared last evening on the Star website, contained this interesting passage:
Garton apologized to wineries and lawmakers who worked on the bill throughout the session, including those who attended a four-hour committee meeting about the bill Wednesday. He said he did not realize the bill could not move forward because of pending litigation until Thursday morning. [emphasis added]

He said withdrawing the lawsuits would not help the bill in the final weeks of the short legislative session. "They're out of time," Garton said.

ILB readers may recall this entry from Feb. 14th, titled "Reader asks good question about small wineries bill". A quote:
Just a few minutes ago the ILB posted an entry about Senator Garton's action on the canned deer hunting bill, quoting from a story in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette by Niki Kelly:
Senate President Pro Tem Robert Garton, R-Columbus, sent the bill to the Senate Rules Committee where he said it will die.

He said the Senate for years has refused to pass legislation that would affect pending litigation, and a lawsuit was filed in August against Hupfer and the DNR after the agency moved to ban the facilities.

A reader has written to ask: "I wonder what this means for small winery shipping . . . ".

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 24, 2006 06:31 AM
Posted to Indiana Law