Honest Pint Act Rises From the Dead

I don't have the time to do this justice--reporting on it by calling sponsors, etc--but I got a tip that the Honest Pint Act is back on the docket at the Oregon legislature. You will recall that back during my tenure as half-assed champion of honest pints in 2009, the Oregon legislature actually took up a bill to make it law. (Yes, I know you don't recall; humor me.)  I testified in Salem, it made it out of committee on a (barely) bipartisan vote, and ... died on the floor.  That bill, almost verbatim, is back:

House Bill 3413 

Sponsored by Representative HELM; Representatives BARNHART, WITT

Allows holder of full on-premises sales license or limited on-premises sales license to obtain verification of capacity of pint glasses used at licensed premises for draft malt beverages. Allows holder to obtain display sticker from Oregon Liquor Control Commission if glasses at premises hold pint of malt beverage under standard conditions.

Briefly, what it does is this: a restaurant or pub can request someone from the state come and do a random sampling of their glassware. If they hold at least 16 ounces "when dispensed under standard conditions established by the director" (I think that language is to allow for headspace), they get a decal certifying that they're purveyors of an honest pint.  (Seriously, "honest pint" is in the language of the bill.)  There's a fee to apply for certification, and although it is not explicit, that is probably the way the law pays for itself. It expires after two years, and then you have to re-up. The one change I see is in section 2, which previously assigned oversight to the Department of Human Services.

In the current version, it falls to the Oregon Health Authority. I have no great confidence that the bill has any shot of becoming a law, but it's cool to dream.  Pay for an honest pint, receive an honest pint.  Seems like a damn fine idea to me.


Oh, this is a cool blast from the past (can't believe it's still cached somewhere):

The Honest Pint Project is Dead; Long Live Honest Pints!

Not super long after I started this blog, I stumbled into the thicket of unregulated glassware sizing. Mentioning the crime of the cheater pint, I inadvertently sparked a great outcry. This led to an online petition, some local press, and ultimately, a half-assed advocacy campaign to bring transparency to glassware sizes. Miraculously, the Honest Pint Project led to some amazing things:

• We certified 47 pubs in eight states as Purveyors of Honest Pints.
• The Wall Street Journal did a long, in-depth piece on the Project.
• NPR covered it (twice!).
  
• It got a fair amount of other press.
• The Oregon legislature considered creating a law to enshrine the Honest Pint Project into law (and it made it fairly far along before dying in the Oregon Senate).
• We sold swag.
• We irritated some people.
• I'd like to say we sparked the minor trend of marking the 16 oz line on glasses, but I'm not totally sure we deserve it.
• We inspired women to go on a glass-measuring rampage in Oklahoma City. (This may have brought me the most joy.)
  

Alas, I was always the wrong champion for this endeavor. It needed someone with real moxie and drive. I imagine where we'd be if, say, Angelo, Ezra, or the Beer Wench had stumbled onto it as I did. Cheater pints would be a thing of the past. The project was important enough that it deserved someone like them.

Anyway, the website is about to go dark. The lease on honestpintproject.org runs out on November 1, and my silent--and very important--partner and I have decided to let it go. As bad as I was before about crusading against cheater pints, at least I used to feel guilty about it. Now, as my life has taken a different direction, I don't even have the time to feel guilty. It was a noble project, but died, as they all do, from inattention.

Raise a pint--an honest one, please--to the Project this week. It was good while it lasted.


Update. I just got an email from someone interested in carrying the HPP forward. I'm totally cool with that. Email [the_beerax(at)yahoo(dot)com] if you also wanted to be included. Perhaps more hands means a lighter load.

Honest Pint Act ... Dead

I am going to do my best not to take this personally, but less than an hour after my eloquent support of the Honest Pint Act down in Salem, the committee voted not to send it to the Senate. So it's dead now for this session. (I finally get involved in the politics of the thing and it dies. Hmmm.)

It was a fairly interesting experience, though. The committee has to run through a batch of bills, and they want you to do your advocacy and move on. Just before our bill came up, Paul Romaine, mighty big-beer lobbyist, was giving testimony on another. As he introduced the Honest Pint Act, Senator Metsger, the committee's chair, produced a glass from Ukraine or someplace--anyway, it had been marked by the state. There followed jokes about how it was a shame the glass wasn't filled.

You've all heard me talk ad nauseum about this, so I'll spare you the blow-by-blow of my comments. You know my schtick.

I have sort of been waiting to see what would happen with this before I went on a dog and pony show to get pubs certified by my project. I guess now I have some work in front of me. Too bad--I was looking forward to an assist from the state. Ah well, that's politics.

Honest Pint Hearing Tomorrow

I meant to post about this earlier in the week but I have ... what was I saying? Oh right, bad memory. Anyhoo, here's the skinny. Tomorrow at 1 pm, Jules Bailey's Honest Pint Act is getting a hearing in Salem. It's currently in a Senate committee, and if it's going to become law, it needs to get to the full Senate. I plan to go down and testify tomorrow, and if you're in spitting distance of the Capitol, maybe you'd like to poke your head in.

Honest Pint Act Hearing and Work Meeting
Senate Business and Transportation Committee
1 pm, State Capitol, Salem

I will, of course, regale you with tales of the experience afterward. Unless I forget.

Honest Pint Act - Two Items

This just in from Facebook, where Evan Manvel is trying to get the Honest Pint Act passed:

Here's the scoop from the capitol:

The Honest Pint Bill, HB 3122, is sitting in the Senate Business and Transportation Committee, and may or may not get a hearing. So if you can take 30 seconds and call the chair of that committee and ask for a hearing, that would be very helpful!

Especially if you're a constituent of Senator Rick Metsger. Even if not, it's helpful. Here's Senator Metsger's office phone number: 503-986-1726.

Say that you're an Oregonian in support House Bill 3122, the honest pint bill, and that you'd like it to move forward.

If you want, you can note:

• It's a voluntary certification program
• It's a consumer protection measure
• It's a step forward in highlighting beer, a great Oregon product and part of our national image
• It doesn't cost the state, as businesses pay for it themselves

But really just say a sentence or two on why the bill matters to you. Be very polite.

Thanks!

Evan

p.s. If you want to do something further, it wouldn't hurt to call your own Senator and the other members of the committee as well:

- Sen. Martha Schrader, 503-986-1720
- Sen. Joanne Verger, 503-986-1705
- Sen. Larry George, 503-986-1713
- Sen. Bruce Starr, 503-986-1715

Also, the Freakonomists picked this up on their blog at the NYT:

Oregon’s House recently passed the “Honest Pint Act,” which would allow drinking establishments to display state-issued stickers certifying that their pint glasses actually hold 16 ounces, as opposed to the 13- and 14-ounce glasses that some bars try to pass off as pints. The act is predicted to cost at least $20,000, not including the price of pint “measuring tools.” House Republicans, meanwhile, think full pints should be the least of Oregonians’ concerns.

So there you go.

And on to the Senate...

The Honest Pint Bill passed another hurdle, making it out of the Oregon House. Now it's on to the Senate. Strangely, the O is already on the case (read the comments for extra amusement):

"It's a little past 10:30 here, but it's 5 o'clock somewhere," said Rep. Jules Bailey, D-Portland, in opening his pitch on the floor.

The vote was 34-26. Critics argued businesses could do this on their own. They don't want state agencies spending time on this and anyway, isn't the economy tanking out there?

Rep. Nick Kahl, D-Portland, put his own spin on that kind of thinking.

"Our state faces serious problems and we're dealing with this bill," -- wait for it, wait for it -- "because now more than ever, Oregonians deserve a full 16 ounces."

Another milestone, and just two left before it becomes law. Who'da thunk?

Update. KGW also has a story up, quoting from this blog (is there any better evidence that the MSM is in trouble?). I will confess to being totally mystified about why the media thinks this is news. I was even beginning to wonder if my few hundred readers on this site--which is an exclusively beer-interested crowd--still cared. But two major news outlets have stories up already on the assumption that their hudreds of thousands of readers care. Far out.

Honest Pint Act Vote Today

I received word that Jules' Honest Pint Act is headed for a vote in the Oregon House today. If it passes, it's on to the Senate. A legislative process is slow and incremental, but this would be a pretty big deal. The number of bills that die after clearing one chamber is substantially lower than those that get introduced or even sent out of committee. So if it passes, that will be something of a deal.

Here's a question. I'm too close to the issue to have much perspective. I notice that my updates about it rarely elicit a comment. So are you all disinterested or secretly opposed and just too polite to tell me to shut up?

Honest Pint in Seattle Weekly

On Thursday, Seattle Weekly had a nice piece that covered both the Honest Pint Project and Oregon's proposed Honest Pint Act.

Enter Oregon House Bill 3122. Introduced in the state legislature in Salem earlier this month, the Honest Pint Act states that, as an added service during a regular visit by the health inspector, Oregon bars and restaurants may request a measuring test of their glassware. If it passes the full-pint test, the establishment is certified as serving an "Honest Pint," good for two years and for the privilege to display a sticker on premises. Jeff Alworth can take much of the credit for getting this bill off the ground. A much-respected beer blogger and long-time chronicler of beer for Willamette Week, his Web site, HonestPintProject.org, first proposed a non-legislative solution that the act in the legislature now closely resembles.

It's a succinct overview of the issue, handled as well as I've seen. It does, however, conclude with a sentence that doesn't thrill me:

As with many ideas born in our plucky little sister to the south (craft spirits, the bartenders' guild), expect something like the Honest Pint Act to hit Washington soon.

"Plucky little sister?" I will accept a number of descriptors: "historic leader," "moral guide," "pioneering visionary," "brewing giant." But plucky little sister--nyet.

Anyway, go have a look at the whole article.

Honest Pint Act Update

Just thought I'd let you know that Jules Bailey's Honest Pint Act (HB 3122) made it out of committee last week and now heads to the floor of the Oregon House. The vote was 7-3:

Voting yes: Barton (D), C. Edwards (D), Holvey (D), Kennemer (R), Matthews (D), Schauffler (D), Witt (D).

Voting No: Cameron (R), Esquival (R), Thatcher (R).

It was, barely, bi-partisan. Perhaps that's good news for its prospects. I've heard no scuttlebutt on that score.

Honest Pint Still in the News

I somehow missed this: the AP picked up the Honest Pint story. This link is to a Seattle Times story, and I'd like to draw your attention to the comments. Recall the bizarre reaction Janie Har's story got last week in the Oregonian? Well, the Washingtonians are a little bit less unhinged. And envious. A sampling:

imjustsayin
A full pint AND no sales tax...

I'm moving south

___

groverdill
About time. I hope Washington gets on board with this. All over Europe it's mandatory to fill to the "line". If a bartender doesn't, then you go ask for a new pour. It's pretty ridiculous that there's no standard here.

___

boogiedown
I don't even drink any more and I'm in favor of this idea. If a business claims that it's main product contains 16 ounces then it better bloody well contain 16 ounces.

___

crossingwa
Why didn't the Washington legislature think of this first? How long will it take for us to catch up with our Oregonian brethren on this key issue?

My mom, who has a friend in Colorado, phoned to pass on word that the Denver Post also has a story today on the Honest Pint Act. They give me a mite too much credit, though, failing to mention that it was, in fact, Jules who champions it. What I find amusing is the rather dismissive reaction they get from locals.

Chris Black, who oversees Falling Rock Tap House in LoDo, is less frothed up than Alworth over the issue. "If you call it 'a glass' it doesn't matter. In the U.S., how we measure glassware is different than elsewhere — say, in Germany or England."

Charlie Papazian, one of the industry's leading advocates and president of the Boulder-based Brewers Association, has heard it all before. "That issue and that notion about full pints has been around for years."

You'd expect more from the Napa of Beer, wouldn't you?

Finally, Draft Magazine noted the story, as well.

KATU on the Honest Pint Act

I will say this: regardless of what becomes of the Honest Pint Act in the legislature, one thing is certain: the issue is getting attention. When I first launched the Honest Pint Project, that was the main intention. As long as consumers recognize what's happening with glassware, they are informed enough to begin to make judgments. By that measure, this has been a roaring success--way beyond what I could have imagined. The latest comes via KATU, with a very nice report on Jules Bailey's bill.


I can't help but feel a warm sense of accomplishment.

Piping Hot Serving of Fresh News

Saturday's not a usual day for a news dump, but this Saturday--sunny! warm!--is not a usual day. So let's get to it...

Honest Pint News
A front-page article by Janie Har in today's Oregonian gives a thumbnail report on yesterday's hearing in Salem. I am slightly misquoted as saying that Germany and England have glassware marked to 16 ounces. Before being innundated about further evidence of my stupidity (don't worry; plenty more opportunities will arise), let me say that I mentioned only that those countries have standards, not that they conform to US pints. (Click through to see a huge batch of cranks who've commented on the story. Amusing.)

The Eugene Register-Guard reported the story, too. David Steves and Andrea Damewood write quite a nice piece and get my position spot-on. (It's interesting--Steves is one of my favorite reporters for the R-G, Har for the O. Nice.) If you have a chance, click through and read this article--it's pretty in-depth. They did some backstory reporting on local pubs, talking about the impact on local business. One quickie response: it's true that to be certified as a purveyor of an honest pint under the legislation you'd need to buy new glassware (if you weren't previously serving honest pints), there's a simple, free fix: don't call them pints. Nothing wrong will selling "glasses" of beer.

Heater Allen
In his latest brewsletter, Rick Allen reports a malfunction with his glycol chiller has left him with six weeks of lost beer. He now anticipates the next bottling on May 17. So if you hanker for a local lager, you best stock up quick.

Bikes and Hopworks
There was a cool article in yesterday's New York Times about the bike culture in Portland. It is currently the second-most emailed story on the Times' site. That's cool enough, but for Hopworks, it is even cooler:

Riders who wish to delve deeper into Portland’s diverse bicycle culture can simply drop in on pubs like Hopworks Urban Brewery in Southeast, a tavern decorated with spare bike parts that serves organic beer.

There are now a whole lot of people across the country who know about Hopworks. That's gotta be good for business, right?

Honest Pint Bill Update

This morning Jules Bailey's Honest Pint bill (background here) had a hearing in Salem. In the past couple days I've gotten calls from reporters at the Oregonian and Register-Guard, and both wonder why I'm not more out in front of this thing. The R-G reporter called after this morning's session and wondered why I wasn't there.

I have only very minor ambivalence about the bill itself. I never envisioned the HPP as a legal initiative, but the way Jules Bailey has crafted his bill, it's mostly promotional, not punitive. At worst it will fail to deliver the goal of bringing transparency to glassware. It's not going to cost anything and won't be difficult to implement. The risk is very low. The reward is quite a bit higher. It could easily provide an incentive for pubs and restaurants to start using full pints and bring transparency to the customer. It might well burnish Oregon's already unimpeachable cred as the state that takes beer seriously. Who knows, it might even nudge us toward the gold standard--a European-style system of marked glassware. Legislation that is low-risk and high reward is axiomatically good.

My ambivalence comes from having found myself the face of the Honest Pint movement. If I had known it was going to go this way, I would have kept my mouth shut. Staying out of Salem allows me to transfer some of the burden to Jules Bailey, who is now championing the cause. As a constituent of his, I am pleased and proud to have a beer guy representing me. So, I'll probably stay low-key on the legislation, but no one should read this as disapproval.

A Hair More on Honest Pints

Apropos of a brief note from Jules Bailey's office today, I offer you a stanza from that timeless classic by Schoolhouse Rock, "I'm Just a Bill." (Really worth watching again if you haven't seen it in decades like me.)

I'm just a bill
Yes I'm only a bill,
And I got as far as Capitol Hill.
Well, now I'm stuck in committee
And I'll sit here and wait
While a few key Congressmen discuss and debate
Whether they should let me be a law.
How I hope and pray that they will,
But today I am still just a bill.

The Honest Pint Bill was referred to Business and Labor today. Quoth the staffer: "Hopefully it will get a hearing soon!" So we're a long way off, but there are a couple champions--Rep. Schaufler, chair of the committee, is a co-sponsor--so it's got a bit of juice.

Also, I have been alerted to a blog post at the Portland Monthly site. (I am surprised that 1) there's a site with any content at all--didn't used to be, and 2) that they have blogs. But there you go.) The blogger there is high on it.

So apparently the word's out. Much as I have resisted turning this blog into an anti-beer-tax site, I'll try to hold off on obsessive coverage of the Honest Pint Act (which, according to Portland Monthly blogger John Chandler, is its nickname).