Helena — The House Business and Labor Committee considered House Bill 92, a technical bill the Department of Revenue said is necessary to correct a series of cross‑reference and drafting issues that arose after extensive alcohol‑related legislation in 2023.

Representative Ed Buttry introduced the bill as a cleanup measure that addresses five categories of fixes remaining after the 2023 session. Becky Schlau, Alcoholic Beverage Control administrator, outlined the areas: add ‘‘registrations’’ to the list of items the department may grant (to reflect new registration processes for out‑of‑state brewers and wineries), remove an obsolete exception tied to a provision that was struck in 2023, allow agency liquor stores to purchase table wine from licensed wineries for consistency, reconcile fingerprint‑vetting language for officers of publicly traded corporations, and reinsert a missing word (‘‘license’’) that was inadvertently struck.

Schlau said the bottle of changes is narrow and technical; none create new policy. She walked members through the specific code corrections, pointing to statutes that need alignment because of prior changes. The department recommended a few precise edits including changing some references from monthly reporting to quarterly to match other sections of code.

Deborah Pittasi of the Montana Beer and Wine Distributors Association supported the bill, noting wholesalers cannot donate product to the public under current law and that distributors generally prefer to provide community support through monetary contributions. Jennifer Hensley of the Montana Distillers Guild and John Iverson of the Montana Tavern Association also supported the cleanup, calling it necessary to resolve inconsistencies that accrued during the prior session’s legislative activity.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about the registrant process for out‑of‑state wineries and brewers — Schlau explained registration is a streamlined alternative to licensing for out‑of‑state suppliers that do not plan to use in‑state employees and vehicles to deliver product. On vetting, Schlau said the bill reconciles conflicting language by keeping the existing requirement that two officers of a publicly traded corporation must be vetted in the licensing process.

Buttry asked the committee for a due‑pass recommendation; the hearing record showed support from the industry and the department and no opposition testimony.