Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • June 10, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 5 PDS has been meeting the needs of the construction industry since 1965. Our dedicated team of design and construction professionals welcomes the challenge of serving its past and future customers on their most demanding projects. Advance Auto Parts | Meriden, CT PDS served as Design Build General Contractor for this new Advance Auto Parts store in Meriden, CT. The building was an 8,000 square foot block wall facility with mainly large retail space along with restrooms, an overhead door and a loading dock. The project was completed in a fast track span of 5 months. Combined Project Size: 8,000 SF 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfi eld, CT 06002 (860) 242-8586 | Fax (860) 242-8587 www.pdsec.com DESIGN BUILDERS • GENERAL CONTRACTORS • CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS SPOTLIGHT ON: R PDS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, INC. THINK • PLAN • BUILD MEMBER FDIC EQUAL HOUSING LENDER NMLS #459028 Find your [ business loans of all sizes] place. If your business has a capital need of almost any size, Liberty Bank is your local lender, with the rates and products to match. y Loans, lines of credit, owner-occupied and investment mortgages up to $50,000,000. y Customized loan structures to meet your business's needs. We also offer services to better manage and protect your deposits, including: y Remote Deposit Capture allowing you to make deposits from your office. y Fraud Protection services to keep your money safe. Start growing your business today. Contact Renee Cote at 860-344-7224. CT legislature passes law to help beer, cider makers By Mark Pazniokas CT Mirror B ipartisan legislation approved by the House of Representa- tives cuts a path through a thicket of Connecticut liquor laws and regulations with roots reaching back to the repeal of Prohibition. An overhaul of the bottle bill did not fare as well. On a vote of 140-5, the House gave final passage to An Act Streamlining the Liquor Control Act, a compromise pro- duced by legislators and lobbyists over beers at a meeting hosted by a Hooker. That would be the Thomas Hooker Brewery at the Colt complex in Hart- ford. Lobbyists and legislators crowded into a conference room at the brewery, negotiating the bill page by page. "We've really dragged this industry into the 21st century with this bill," said Rep. Mike D'Agostino (D-Hamden) the co-chair of the General Law Com- mittee, which oversees liquor laws. The liquor bill was the product of a bipartisan working group. Among other things, the measure loosens many of the restrictions that have frustrated Connecticut craft brew- ers, distillers and winemakers. It creates a "Connecticut cafe permit," allowing the cross-selling of products. Now limited to selling its own beer, a brewery or winery now would be able to offer craft liquor, wine, cider and mead made elsewhere in the state. Now limited to nine liters, a retail customer could buy nine gal- lons directly from a craft brewer. With platoons of lobbyists defend- ing three rigid tiers of manufac- ture, distribution and retail sales that were established in the 1930s, liquor laws historically have been among the most difficult to revise. Every sector is inextricably linked to another, creating what D'Agostino likened to moving one piece of a Jenga puzzle. "There is no other industry up here at the Capitol that is more dominat- ed by special interest than the liquor industry," D'Agostino said. Want to sell a gift basket at a pack- age store? Its contents are set by law. If you are a wholesaler wanting to sell cases with different types of liquor, state laws make it impossible. Another law dictates "effective sepa- ration" of dining areas, bathrooms and the bar in restaurants. "These are silly little things that existed for decades," D'Agostino said. They all would disappear in the bill approved by lawmakers and sent to Gov. Ned Lamont. D'Agostino credited two GOP members of his committee, Rep. Dave Rutigliano of Trumbull and Sen. Kevin Witkos of Canton. "We brought every stakeholder to the table," Rutigliano said. "Every- body got a little something." Rutigliano said it was Witkos who attacked the arcane permitting system, figuring out how to shrink more than 40 permits to just 13, with four major ones. During the Senate debate on the bill, Witkos said that although the state has been slow to change laws regulating the industry, it has still managed to thrive. "When you're talking about some- thing that's a very highly regulated industry you tend to move very slowly, but we've progressed and made baby steps in all of the industries," Witkos said. "They've been limited, but even with that limitation we've seen signifi- cant economic impact and job growth." Witkos pointed to the beer industry which, following a 2012 law change that revived liquor sales on Sundays, experienced tremendous growth. "There were approximately 650 people employed in the beer indus- try and by 2019 the number of jobs reached over 5,000," he said. An effort to expand the state's bot- tle bill and raise the redemption fee from five cents to a dime failed. The House instead amended the measure to call for a study. Craft beer makers in Connecticut will be able to sell more booze to patrons at their breweries under a new law pased by state lawmakers. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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