KENTUCKY — On this week’s program we’re taking a closer look at House Bill 439, which relates to vintage bourbon. It was signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky. on April 4. The legislation was co-sponsored by State Rep. Matthew Koch, R-Paris, and retiring State Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, D-Lexington,. It establishes regulations for sales of vintage distilled spirits in the Commonwealth.

Koch is chairman of the House Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee and shares during this ‘In Focus Kentucky’ segment that reforming the vintage distilled spirits law was needed because of reports of vintage spirit retailers buying thousands of bottles from sellers with no oversight.

Under the new state law, vintage distilled spirit licensee holders would not be able to purchase more than 24 packages from any single seller in a 12-month period. Sellers who violate the new vintage distilled spirit regulations proposed in the bill could face a Class A misdemeanor on first offense and a Class D felony on second or subsequent offense.

Another item included in HB 439 allows the state to auction off unopened, confiscated alcohol contained in its original packaging.

“Yes, oh yes, we pretty much want to do that. I think that broke everybody’s heart when you would see some of the confiscated alcohol have to be dumped out. I mean we all know how hard it is to find some of these exclusive bottled, empty bottles of bourbon. And so we’re like, hey, let’s, let’s find a way to not dump it out, and let’s find a way to help somebody. So that’s what we did. And there’s all kinds of parameters on it, right? You have to prove that it’s not counterfeit. The original bottle still has to be sealed. They actually have to go through and verify with this everything’s legit with this. And then once they do, they can actually have a public option for that, and then that money will go to the Aware program to help problem drinking on college campuses and high school campuses,” explained Koch.

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.