‘Made in Hawaii’ law satisfies key supporter of beer labeling

Question: Whatever happened to Senate and House bills that called for beer packaging to clarify where the beer was produced if its label gives the impression that the beer was made in Hawaii but it wasn’t?

Answer: The House Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee deferred House Bill 1126 but inserted its content into a similar bill that passed muster in both chambers and made it to conference committee.

The measure, however, did not receive any joint hearings to hash out any disagreements. Since measures proposed and not killed this year can carry into next year, legislators could pick up House Bill 1314 where they left off in conference committee.

But Rep. Angus McKelvey (D, West Maui-Maalaea-North Kihei), who supports beer labeling and serves as chairman of the House Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee, said no plans are in the works to pick up the bill. He said the committee is now satisfied that the state’s standing "Made in Hawaii" law sufficiently addresses the matter.

Issues tied to various products seeking "Made in Hawaii" status circulate at the Capitol year after year.

Coffee blend producers selling their product in the state, for example, have been required since 1991 to include the percentage of Hawaii-grown coffee on packaging. But efforts to require producers to pinpoint coffee origin and provide additional information about coffee percentages in blends have failed.

When the beer labeling issue surfaced in February, Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley), vice chairman of the House Economic Development and Business Committee, told the Star-Advertiser he thought a conflict was surfacing between 8-year-old Maui Brewing Co., which creates and cans its beer only in Hawaii, and 18-year-old Kona Brewing Co., which is growing in popularity outside the isles and has outsourced the majority of its brewing, canning and bottling to mainland breweries.

At that time, Maui’s founder and owner, Garrett Marrero, said he backed a beer packaging bill to protect consumers — not because of business-related rivalry.

"To protect the value of what is a local beer, we believe that if you’re making it on the mainland and shipping it over here — not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that — but if you do do that, you need to give the consumer the opportunity to make their choice based on accurate information," Marrero said in February.

Kona Brewing Co. President Mattson Davis said Kona already prints all four of its brewing locations on its labels.

"Why would we put all those locations on the bottle?" Davis said. "Because we brew in all those locations."

Marrero countered that the locations could be confusing to consumers who don’t know whether the beer is sold in those locations, made there or if there are Kona pubs or restaurants in those cities.

Senate Bill 1260, introduced as a companion to the original House bill, died in its first hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee because the state Attorney General’s Office brought up concerns regarding its constitutionality.

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This update was written by Sarah Zoellick. Suggest a topic for “Whatever Happened To …” by writing Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4747; or email cityeditors@staradvertiser.com.