Legislation regarding wine walks has a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, September 2. The senate bill, SB 236, was introduced on Monday and referred to the Committee on Revenue, Financial, and Rural Issues. Earlier this year, the Department of Revenue came up with a new interpretation of the liquor laws that would not permit wine walks. Committee Chair and 17th District Senator Howard Marklein said this legislation is a good compromise. Marklein said, “It satisfies all of the concerns that were raised by the Department of Revenue and other interested parties, and I’m happy to have the bipartisan support of a lot of people who are affected locally.”
This bill would allow municipalities to issue temporary alcohol beverage retail licenses for certain multiple-location events and also allows temporary alcohol beverage retail licenses to be issued to local chambers of commerce. Wine walks have been held in Baraboo, Wisconsin Dells, Reedsburg, and Mauston.
The public hearing will be held at 10am in Room 300 SE. The hearing is for input from the community.
A full version of the bill can be found here.