The California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA) has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) director Sandra Shewry alleging that the state has infringed upon the constitutional rights and denied the state’s beer manufacturers equal protection by requiring them to serve a meal to guests in order to operate their tasting rooms while not imposing the same restrictions upon the state’s winemakers.
The CCBA, which represents the state’s more than 1,050 craft breweries, alleges the state’s 4,000 winemakers and tasting rooms were granted “more generous reopening privileges” than the state’s craft breweries in reopening guidelines issued by the CDPH, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Although the CDPH requires the state’s craft breweries to serve guests a meal in order to reopen outdoor serving areas, the state does not require winemakers to provide a meal. That dichotomy, according to the CCBA, “creates an arbitrary and unjust distinction” between manufacturers of wine and beer makers.
The lawsuit alleges that the state’s guidance is not based upon differences between the two types of business or their abilities to operate safely, and also does not support COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
“When it is time to begin the reopening of businesses in 2021, we need to ensure that a single industry is not arbitrarily divided based on unfounded assumptions,” CCBA executive director, Tom McCormick said in a press release. “We want to ensure that the craft brewing industry has the same privileges and the same pathway as other alcohol beverage manufacturers to reopen, re-employ and re-build next year.”
The CCBA argues that breweries and wineries operate identical businesses, from manufacturing facilities to tasting room experiences, with the only difference being the end product they produce. As such, the CCBA says the state should assign similar reopening guidelines to both breweries and wineries.
“The orders from the CDPH unjustly target the small 1,050 craft breweries operating across the state of California,” McCormick said. “The CCBA urges the CDPH to reassess the current divisive and confusing reopening guidelines so that these small businesses can find a pathway to survive in 2021.”
Newsom recently instituted a new system that would trigger regional stay home orders when hospitals’ projected intensive care unit capacity dips below 15%. The system prohibits individuals in affected regions from holding private gatherings of any size and businesses must restrict capacity, cease on-site service or close through at least December 28.
Breweries, wineries, distilleries, bars and restaurants have closed for on-site service, but may remain open for beer-to-go sales via takeout, curbside pickup and home delivery.
In early December, McCormick and CCBA lobbyist Chris Walker worked to ensure the state’s new regional stay home order allowed for breweries in affected regions to remain open for production, sales to wholesalers, sales to retailers for self-distributing breweries, sales to consumers via curbside pickup, home delivery and direct-to-consumer shipments. However, McCormick said at the time that the CCBA was “not content where things stand and where breweries are slotted” and the organization had “not exhausted all of our avenues, so we are looking at a legal action.”
That legal action came to light today.