Packers fans have much to be excited about as the free agent period comes into full swing.
Previously the Packers have been notoriously quiet during the offseason, but new Packers GM Brian Gutekunst looks to take a more aggressive approach in free agency to revamp a defense ranked as one of the worst in the league. But if Packers faithful are looking to celebrate this change of direction with an adult beverage outside the hallowed confines of Lambeau Field, under a proposed state law they could be breaking the law.
A proposal currently making its way through the state legislature, Assembly Bill 433, would make tailgating illegal before Packers (and potentially Milwaukee Brewers and Wisconsin Badgers) games. Specifically, it would ban the consumption of alcoholic beverages on private property if the person in charge of the property received payment for temporary use of the property, unless that person obtained a retail license to sell alcoholic beverages.
In other words, if you pay to park in someone’s driveway before a Packers game, you would be unable to tailgate unless the owner of the driveway purchased a retail liquor license.
Not only are retail liquor licenses time-consuming and expensive to obtain, but most municipalities have a limited number of licenses available due to state quotas put in place at request of the Tavern League of Wisconsin. So even if homeowners wanted to comply with this absurd law, many would be unable to do so.
Anyone offering a beer to a fellow Packers fan who paid to park in their driveway would now be breaking state law. Talk about over-criminalization.
Given that it’s reasonable to believe that the legislature doesn’t have it out for the green and gold faithful, why is the legislature even considering this ridiculous law in the first place?
Believe it or not, this assault on tailgating started with a deregulatory push on one of Wisconsin’s fastest growing industries: wineries.
In the last 10 years, the number of wineries in Wisconsin have grown from 41 to more than 100. This growth has come in spite of the fact that wineries are forced to close their doors at 9 p.m., the earliest of any business that serves alcohol. AB 433 would have expanded those hours to midnight so that wineries might host an event, such as weddings, allowing them to further expand their business.
This commonsense proposal had drawn the ire of the king of cronyism in the state, the Tavern League.
Ironically, the Tavern League has long been a buzzkill to the residents of the Badger state. Taking an “anything goes” approach to defending their turf, the Tavern League has long fought for restrictive and unreasonable regulations regarding any business that tries to sell alcohol that isn’t a tavern.
Some of their greatest hits include the following:
Preventing the sale of alcohol in retail stores after 9 p.m. Launching a sneak attack the fastest-growing beer industry in America. Helping write a failed budget amendment creating an “Alcohol Czar” to increase regulations on craft beverage producers and retailers. Working to end the legal sale of beer in winery tasting rooms.
Their message to the rest of the small businesses in Wisconsin is clear: If you move into our territory, be prepared for a fight.
The Tavern League has even been transparent in their latest effort to use the heavy hand of government to hold down a competitor, though tailgates may not have been their intended targets.
Rather, the advent of this proposal was to stop the growth of barn weddings, where property owners convert their barns and rent them out to wedding parties. These weddings typically allow the guests to supply their own liquor, which is the reason for the Tavern League’s wrath according to their own lobbyist.
Many wedding barn owners would like to obtain a retail liquor license but are unable to do so due to the Tavern League’s quota system.
For too long, the Tavern League has wielded far too much influence in all aspects of Wisconsin’s alcohol industry, but in taking on Packer fans it looks as if that time might be coming to a close.
State Rep. John Nygren, a Republican whose original proposal was to expand winery hours, has halted the progress of AB 433 until the language banning tailgates can be worked out. Additionally, a special interest push to install an alcohol czar to crack down on craft breweries went nowhere in Wisconsin thanks to principled legislators and the state’s rediscovered love of small breweries.
By taking on the most beloved institution in Wisconsin, the Tavern League has laid bare their anti-freedom agenda for all to see. It’s time for legislators to not only allow this most Wisconsin tradition of brats and beer outside of Lambeau to continue, but help return Wisconsin to its rightful place as the beer capital of the United States. That means standing up for new and innovative small businesses and rejecting the cronyism that the Tavern League represents.
Eric Bott is Wisconsin director of Americans for Prosperity. Rick Esenberg is president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. CJ Szafir is executive vice president at WILL.
