Update No. 2: Clarification on beer bills

I received a return call from another staffer in the office of S.C. Rep. Jim Harrion (R-Richland), and following that conversation, I have to correct the date of the debate on House Bill 3624.

I can now also shed more light on the different roles that are being played by House Bill 3218 and House Bill 3624, both of which would allow, in South Carolina, the sale of beer with as much as 14 percent alcohol by weight.

House Bill 3624 might be debated Thursday (April 19), but it is a "back-up" bill in the event that HB 3218 doesn't pass, according to Heather Smith in Harrison's office.

House Bill 3218 is up for debate Wednesday (April 18), as previously reported. It has already been through the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate, so it's ready for debate and vote in front of the full House.

If HB 3218 were to be voted down, then HB 3624 would head to the Senate, Smith said. The Senate would give its approval, disapproval, or amendments, and then it would return to the House.

While both bills would allow higher alcohol content in beers, HB 3218 has additional language. It also addresses something relating to import and distribution of foreign beer, and that part of the bill was authored in the House Labor Committee. The person I need to talk to in the labor committee -- so I can understand what the dense language says -- will not be available until Monday.

HB 3218 originally dealt only with the import and distribution issue. The alcohol content language was added during its trip to the Senate.

-Colin Burch

Update on beer bill, or bills

A staffer in the office of S.C. Rep. Jim Harrison (R-Richland) has helped clear up the beer-bill procedures.

The bill would allow, in South Carolina, the sale of beer with as much as 14 percent alcohol by weight. Currently the law limits commercially produced and sold beer to 5 percent.

For starters, there are two bills in the S.C. House that argue for the increase, and both will be debated next week before the full House. Both bills are officially out of committee, the staffer told me.

House Bill 3218, which originally only addressed another matter related to importing beer, picked up the alcohol-increase language while it was getting a look-over from the S.C. Senate (folks in the Senate added more to the bill). It has returned to the House for debate. That debate will be held Wednesday (April 18), and a vote could follow.

House Bill 3624 was the original House bill; it addressed only the alcohol-increase in beers. It will be debated, and possibly put up for a vote, this Tuesday (April 17).

The two bills will most likely, eventually, be wedded into a single bill.

Read House Bill 3218 here: http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess117_2007-2008/bills/3218.htm

Read House Bill 3624 here: http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess117_2007-2008/bills/3624.htm

-Colin Burch

Apparently committee vote on beer bill delayed

In the S.C. General Assembly, the House Judiciary Committee was supposed to vote Tuesday on whether to send House Bill 3218 to the floor for a full-House vote. The bill would allow South Carolinians to buy, and retailers and wholesalers to sell, beers that exceed the current limit of 5-percent alcohol by weight.

Apparently, this vote has been delayed. I haven't received a return phone call from the Judiciary chairman's office for the official explanation, but I have two decent pieces of evidence that suggest the vote was delayed.

1. The State House Web page devoted to House Bill 3218 doesn't list any activity taken on the bill yesterday (Tuesday). The page includes a "History of Legislative Action" which tracks each procedure that the bill goes through. The line for today, April 11, reads, "Debate ajourned on Senate amendments until Wednesday, April 18, 2007." So one could guess that, possibly, the Senate has offered some tweaks to House Bill 3218, so the vote is delayed perhaps because the committee members need to give some thought to those tweaks. Read the House Bill 3218 page at http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess117_2007-2008/bills/3218.htm .

2. A group called Pop the Top South Carolina has been monitoring the bill's progress in the House and the Senate, and their blog post from today says essentially the same thing I have above. You can read their post here: http://ptcsc.wordpress.com/2007/04/11/41107/ .

I'll post updates as I get more info.

-Colin Burch