Monday, August 10, 2026

Last call: CA Liquor Delivery Law Ending After Lobbying Blitz

By Lynn La, CALMATTERS

Chris Steller at his distillery’s tasting bar in El Dorado Hills on Aug. 4, 2026. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

The days of small-batch whiskey and gin being delivered to your doorstep are almost over.

An extensive lobbying effort to kill a proposal that would allow craft liquor distillers to keep shipping their products to California customers underscores how wealthy and powerful interests influence policy among lawmakers, writes CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order allowing craft distillers to ship spirits to their customers’ homes. Legislators have kept passing laws to extend the temporary policy, with the latest expiring Dec. 31.

One Sacramento-area Republican is trying to make the policy permanent, but national alcohol distributors, truck drivers represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and California’s wine industry are working behind the scenes to spike the plan.

As alcohol consumption falls across the country, opponents insist they aren’t trying to stamp out small competitors. Though it’s unclear how much these groups spent on specific legislation, they have given at least $11 million to California politicians since 2000, including at least $738,000 at the start of the current two-year legislative session, according to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas received at least $108,000 in donations over the years from the proposal’s opponents; Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón received at least $33,000; and Sen. Susan Rubio and Assemblymember Blanca Rubio — sisters who oversee the committees regulating California’s alcohol industry — received at least $65,000 and $129,000, respectively.

Meanwhile, California’s craft distillers reported spending $53,000 on lobbying this year. In anticipation of the plan’s likely failure, Cris Steller, the acting executive director of the California Distillers Association and the owner of two distilleries in El Dorado Hills, has started pulling back on shipping bottles to customers.

• Steller: “I don’t want to keep putting money into a program that’s going to get yanked.”

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.