For years, wine lovers in Illinois have enjoyed the ability to order wine and have it shipped to them. This ability is under attack in the Illinois legislature. Below I’ve posted a message I received from one of my wine sources. If you live in Illinois, or do business in Illinois, you may wish to contact the committee members and ask them to oppose this legislation.

This email arrived in my mailbox this morning. The Bounty Hunter is a wine seller in Napa who gets great stuff. I’m a very happy customer, but I might not be a customer if this bill passes.

Greetings from the Bounty Hunter:

We rarely send out this type of message but legislative activities currently underway in Illinois demands we contact you. You will lose your right to purchase and have shipped to you wine from any and all retailers if H.B. 429 passes in Illinois. This law could go into effect as early as next week so we urge you to do act!

This proposed law prohibits you from purchasing and receiving wine via direct shipment from retailers both inside and outside of Illinois. After 20 years of having this right, H.B. 429 would strip it away from you. The law is about to be considered by the Illinois House Consumer Protection Committee.

You can help stop this outrageous and unjustified attempt to limit your access to fine wine by acting now. We urge you to e-mail or phone the members of he Illinois House Consumer Protection Committee today and demand they vote against H.B. 429 or amend it to allow you to continue to receive wine via direct shipment from all retailers. A suggested message is below as well as a list of email addresses and phone numbers for those Illinois State Representative that sit on the HCP committee where the bill will be heard. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to any friends or acquaintances in Illinois who want to continue to purchase and have wine shipped to them from retailers.

SUGGESTED MESSAGE

Dear Representative:

For 20 years now Illinois wine lovers have been able to purchase wine direct from retailers both in and outside of the State. If H.B. 429 passes in its current form, that privilege will be taken away…and for no sound reason other than to protect a small handful of powerful and wealthy distributors who are taking advantage the state’s need to change its regulation to protect themselves from legitimate competition.

This change would be an outrageous and unjustified limit on my ability to order and receive wine from retailers. It is a change that was not requested by consumers or retailers. Furthermore, there has been no problem of improper direct sales reported by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission.

H.B. 429 is before the House Consumer Protection Committee of which you are a member. I urge you to vote “NO” on H.B. 429 or work to amend it so that it allows Illinois citizens to continue to legally purchase wine from both in-state and out-of-state retailers.

ILLINOIS HOUSE CONSUMER PROTECTION COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Rep. Marlow Colvin (Chairman)
217-782-8272 (Capitol)
repcolvin@sbcglobal.net

Rep. Careen Gordon
217-782-5997 (Capitol)
staterepgordon@sbcglobal.net

Rep. George Scully
217-782-1719 (Capitol)
repscully@sbcglobal.net

Rep. Deborah Graham
217-782-6400 (Capitol)
aprice@hds.ilga.gov

Rep. Bob Rita
217-558-1000 (Capitol)
robertbobrita@aol.com

Rep. Lisa Hernandez
217-782-8173 (Capitol)
Ehernandezsprint02@earthlink.net

Rep. Ed Sullivan
217-782-3696 (Capitol)
ilhouse51@sbcglobal.net

Rep. Dan Brady
217-782-1118 (Capitol)
dan@rep-danbrady.com

Rep. Randy Ramey
217-558-1037 (Capitol)
Staterepramey55@aol.com

Rep. Jil Tracy
217-782-8096 (Capitol)
jiltracy@jiltracy.com

Rep. Jim Meyer
217-782-8028 (Capitol)

Jameshmeyer@gmail.com

I don’t live in Illinois, but I keep my wine locker in Chicago, which could become useless if this bill becomes law. But if YOU live in Illinois, the representatives will have to give your opinion a little weight. Be sure to alert every wine drinker you know in Illinois and urge them to contact the people on this committee and their own representatives.