SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, No. 805

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: NOVEMBER 18, 1996

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably the Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 805 of 1996.

      The committee substitute revises the alcoholic beverage brand registration filing for vintage wines and increases the initial brand registration fee for all alcoholic beverages. Current law requires all alcoholic beverage labels to be registered with the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

      Under the committee substitute, vintage wines will be subject to initial brand registration and annual renewal filings and fees; however, different vintages of wines already registered will not be subject to separate brand registrations, renewals and fees.

      In addition, the committee substitute increases from $20 to $23 the initial brand registration fee for all alcoholic beverages.

      The original bill would have eliminated brand registration for any wine if the brand or trade name label for the wine was already approved by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

      This bill is part of an agreement between members of the alcoholic beverage industry and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control for regulatory reform; the division will undertake certain regulatory reform measures in conjunction with the enactment of this bill.

FISCAL IMPACT

      The Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control states that, although this committee substitute will result in a reduction in the amount of fees collected by the State from vintage wine brand registrations by approximately $40,000 annually, the increase in revenues from the increase in the registration fee contained in the committee substitute and resulting from other regulatory action undertaken by the division will make the fiscal impact of this bill essentially revenue neutral.

       According to the ABC, 15,011 brand registrations for wines were made in FY 1995, which amounted to $300,220 in revenues.