Senate Finance advances technical fix allowing carriers to deliver winery shipments to adult residents

The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday advanced Senate Bill 2574, a technical correction to a 2024 liquor law, to the committee of the whole and placed it on the consent calendar. The measure changes delivery language for the common‑carrier permit for wine direct shipping so that carriers may leave a shipment with an adult resident at the delivery address who is not underage and not visibly intoxicated rather than requiring delivery only to the specific addressee listed on the label.

The bill is a narrow follow‑up to recommendations from the Liquor Advisory Group that were enacted last year in SB 24‑231. "SB 2,574 makes a correction to the proposal of the Liquor Advisory Group," said the Senate Minority Leader during opening remarks to the committee. The sponsor, identified as the Senate Majority Leader in the hearing, described the change as a technical cleanup of the earlier bill and urged an aye vote.

Committee members asked few substantive questions. Senator Snyder said he preferred the majority leader's phrasing of the technical update and did not see a substantive problem with SB 24‑231 that required correction. There were no amendments during the amendment phase and both sponsors asked members for an aye vote.

Two witnesses testified in support. Greg Fulton, representing a group of carriers, told the committee the existing requirement that delivery be made only to the named addressee created practical problems for carriers and customers: "If I end up, I'm actually at that house, my wife is there and I'm not there, I'm the addressee, she couldn't receive it," Fulton said. He added that the requirement can force carriers to return shipments to a terminal or arrange additional deliveries, which increases cost and complicates customer relations: "It adds cost to the process. It actually creates more of a problem with our relationship to some extent with our customers."

Tyler Rudd, central states counsel for the Wine Institute, a trade association representing roughly 1,000 California wineries and affiliated businesses, said the institute supported SB 2574 and thanked the bipartisan sponsors for the technical cleanup. "We're just here in support," Rudd said.

After brief closing remarks from the sponsors, Senator Kolker moved to send SB 2574 to the committee of the whole. The roll call included recorded ayes from Senators Sprague, Frizzell, Wilker, Mullica (recorded as "yes, for today"), Gleeson and Snyder; the transcript later records Gonzales voting aye as well. The committee chair announced no objection to placing the bill on the consent calendar and said "That bill has passed."

The change in SB 2574 is limited to delivery language and does not alter age or intoxication prohibitions: deliveries still may not be left with someone underage or with a visibly intoxicated person. The measure was described throughout the hearing as a technical correction to restore the intended effect of last year's law, not as a substantive expansion of direct‑shipping authority.

Next steps: the committee advanced SB 2574 to the committee of the whole and placed it on the consent calendar for consideration by the full Senate. The committee hearing transcript contains alternative renderings of the bill number in places; committee speakers consistently referred to the measure as a Senate bill and as the technical cleanup to SB 24‑231.

Votes at a glance: Senate Bill 2574 — motion to committee of the whole moved by Senator Kolker; no amendments; committee recorded a majority of ayes and placed the bill on the consent calendar.