# Bay Area Real Estate Journal Brief
You know how during the pandemic, craft distillers could ship their spirits directly to customers here in California? Well, that convenient option is about to disappear. According to CalMatters Housing, a temporary executive order from Governor Newsom that allowed this direct-to-consumer shipping has been extended repeatedly by lawmakers, but the latest extension runs out at the end of the year. One state legislator is pushing to make the program permanent, but they're running into serious headwinds.
The opposition to keeping craft liquor shipping legal is coming from some heavy hitters. National alcohol distributors, the Teamsters union, and California's wine industry have been working quietly but aggressively to block the proposal. While nobody knows exactly how much money these groups have spent on this specific fight, CalMatters reports they've given at least eleven million dollars to California politicians since the year two thousand, including significant donations at the current legislative session. Some key players like Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, and siblings Senator Susan Rubio and Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, who oversee alcohol industry oversight, have received substantial contributions from these opponents.
The craft distillers don't have anywhere near the same financial firepower. CalMatters says the California Distillers Association spent just fifty three thousand dollars on lobbying this year. Facing the writing on the wall, the acting director of the distillers association, who owns two distilleries in the foothills, has already started pulling back on shipping bottles to customers in anticipation of the program's likely failure.
What I'm seeing locally in the Bay Area is that small producers and artisanal operations keep getting squeezed out when they go up against established industry players with deep pockets and political connections. It's a reminder that sometimes the outcome of policy debates comes down less to the merits of an idea and more to who can afford to spend the most time in Sacramento.
