Following is the reasonably positive reply I had from my Florida state representative regarding the flaw in the recently revised beer container bill passed by the Florida legislature. My original message to him is appended at the end for your reference. Bill > > Dr. Hooper, thank you for your thoughts about the container statutes. I will > pass them on to the Business Regulation Committee for their review. It does > seem like an unintentional flaw. Thanks, aaron > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bill Hooper > Subject: recently passed Beer Bill > > Mr. Bean, > > The recently passed bill permitting more different sizes of containers > in > which beer may be sold has a glaring flaw that I believe was probably > unintentional. > > The old law had specified only a limited number of different sizes up to > 1 quart (32 fl. oz.) and prohibited sizes over 1 quart. The amendment to > that > law allows ANY size up to 1 quart, including metric sizes. > > As a result, and most unfortunately, the amended law will still prohibit > the > sale of a one litre size container of beer. Even though one litre is the > metric equivalent of the old English quart, it is technically just a > little > bit larger and therefore is prohibited by the clause that says the size > may > not be over 1 quart (32 fl. oz.). > > Part of the reason for passing the amendment to the law was to allow > metric > sizes, but this oversight still causes the law to prohibit one of the > most > common metric sizes for beverages. > > As I see it, this is merely an oversight and can and should be corrected > promptly without too much trouble. Is it possible that you and your > colleagues in the Florida House would see this the same way and be > willing > to make the necessary small change to permit one litre containers of > beer? > > The correction to the law could be slight and could take one of two > forms: > either > > (1) change the maximum permitted size to 1 litre (1000 mL) instead of > one > quart, or make the maximum size some other reasonable amount, like 34 > fl. > oz., that would not be substantially higher than 1 qt. but would include > both the litre (33.8 fl. oz.) and the quart (32.0 fl. oz.); > > or > (2) eliminate the upper limit of 1 quart entirely. > > The difference in size between the quart and the litre is very small. A > quart contains 945.5 millilitres (945.5 mL) while a litre contains 1000 > millilitres (1000 mL); the difference is less than 55 mL (under > 6%) which is barely three swallows. Surely it is not reasonable to allow > 945.5 mL while prohibiting a nice round 1000 mL. > > Thank you for your consideration of this issue. > > Regards, > (Dr.) William Hooper > Fernandina Beach, Florida
