FRANKFORT, Ky. — Private barrel selection programs are popular for the bourbon industry, but have been a contentious issue for wholesalers and retailers.
Distillers sell the private barrels directly to people and groups, including bars, restaurants and other businesses, but that cuts out wholesalers and retailers from the typical system.
Supporters of House Bill 500 say it’s a compromise: the bill allows distillers to sell 30 percent of their allotment of private barrels directly to customers, while the other 70 percent has to go through wholesalers.
Rep. Chad McCoy (R-Bardstown) said it’s a good compromise.
“We have the entire three-tiered system realizing that growing this bourbon pie for everybody is a positive thing,” he said.
McCoy’s bill also allows distilleries to sell exclusive bottles out of their gift shops, and to run their own satellite tasting rooms away from the distillery itself.
The House voted on a few other bills Friday, including one that gives advanced practice nurses the ability to prescribe controlled substances.
“We are always talking about encouraging folks to enter the healthcare field; we hear discussion about a shortage of nurses that we have,” Rep. Russell Webber (R-Shepherdsville) said. “This bill will help with that.”
Under the House Bill 354, advanced practice nurses would have to partner with a doctor for four years to prescribe controlled substances, but after that four years is up, they can apply for their own license.
Rep. Patti Minter (D-Bowling Green) said it’s a critical tool to bring in more nurses.
“Nurse practitioners are, for many people, the primary care providers,” she said. “They’re the family doctors of this community.”
The measure passed with only 8 votes against it. Rep. Kim Moser (R-Taylor Ridge) said if Kentucky goes through with this, tighter rules need to be put in place.
“The only thing that we are doing by passing this bill is increasing controlled substances,” she said.
Advanced practice nurses have been able to prescribe controlled substances during the pandemic, and Webber, the main sponsor of the bill, said there haven’t been any issues.
“It was not the Wild, Wild West,” he said. “Nurse practitioners were not writing prescriptions hand over fist for controlled substances and flooding the state with opioids.”
