By Jim Campbell, OPA News Bureau
A second effort to boost the growth of Oklahoma’s wine industry through direct sales goes before voters statewide on Nov. 4 along with proposals to constitutionally protect hunting and fishing rights, grant property tax exemptions to veterans with service-related total disabilities and prevent retroactive filing for ad valorem exemptions.
Oklahomans approved direct sales of wine to liquor stores and restaurants in 2000 but that amendment was overturned in June 2007 by District Judge Stephen Friot. Ruling on a challenge by wholesalers fearful it would destroy Oklahoma’s three-tiered distribution system and lead wine giants to bypass them and sell directly to retailers, Friot held it unconstitutionally granted an exemption not enjoyed by all out-of-state wineries.
The new proposal crafted in response would allow small Oklahoma wine producers to avoid the wholesalers’ fee and market directly to stores and restaurants and to sell at festivals and trade shows, but with significant restrictions. There could be no discrimination against any wineries, in or out of state.
Hunting rights measures have been proposed by lawmakers alarmed that animal rights organizations might try to ban angling and the sport of harvesting game.
Following is a list of this year’s state questions and an explanation.
STATE QUESTION NO. 735
LEGISLATIVE REFERENDUM NO. 343
Against the backdrop of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, legislators sought to help Oklahomans who had become 100 percent disabled through injury or illness related to military service during hostilities by relieving them of personal property taxes. Stringent requirements for the benefit are spelled out in the proposal.
STATE QUESTION NO. 741
LEGISLATIVE REFERENDUM NO. 344
The purpose of this amendment by Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, and Sen. Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah, is to make sure an individual or business does not benefit more than intended by filing retroactively for any year before an original application was filed.
STATE QUESTION NO. 742
LEGISLATIVE REFERENDUM NO. 345
Predicted assaults against hunting and fishing rights by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) or others have been cited as reasons these rights should be protected in the Oklahoma Constitution. Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, said the proposal has the support of the Oklahoma and National Rifle Association.
STATE QUESTION NO. 743
LEGISLATIVE REFERENDUM NO. 346
Legislators tried various bills during the 2008 session to protect and invigorate Oklahoma’s fledgling wine industry after the 2007 court reversal of the 2007 amendment.
House Democratic leader Danny Morgan of Prague, who authored the proposed question with Elk City Sen. Tom Ivester, said it is a compromise that brought together all parties involved in the production, distribution and sale of Oklahoma wine. Although there has been little publicity one way or another, Morgan said, “I know of no organized opposition.”
Morgan said the 10,000 barrel limit and restriction against use of a common or private carrier for delivery, a compromise with wholesalers, is based on a consensus that larger production would need to go through wholesalers.
He said it wouldn’t make economic sense to deliver a pickup load from Broken Bow to Guymon, “but if a wine became well enough known it might be profitable to sell it through a wholesaler.” Wholesalers charge a 22 percent fee, which could make Oklahoma’s wines as expensive as some from California.
“We tried to protect Oklahoma wineries from an onslaught from big wineries like Gallo,” Morgan said.
