Filed by Michael Cross in Feature, Local News, News, Politics.
January 25, 2010

On Monday, wine growers from across the state came to the State Capitol to discuss possible legislation to create the Oklahoma Wine and Grape Growers Commission.

House Bill 2709 would create the Oklahoma Wine and Grape Growers Commission which would oversee the industry in the state.

The bill’s author Representative Wallace Collins of Norman says this would also give those in the industry a voice at the state capitol.

“They will help to formulate rules and regulations to operate under and proceed under, also how they’re governed and what obligations they might have to meet.”

The Commission would also oversee how to spend any excise tax on wine sales in the state above last year’s level which was approved by lawmakers in 2009.

The money could go to education, marketing, even natural disasters.
There’s still some debate as to whether any extra money will come in because of the current downturn in the economy.

But, OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Head Dale Maronek says this industry is growing tremendously right now.

“Twenty Years ago we had one winery. Ten years ago we may have had 15. Today we’ve got more than 50. That’s just wineries and then we all the vineyards.”

The Commission would be made up of 14 members, 13 with voting power.

The members would come from various wine and grape growing associations across the state as well as some nominees from the Governor, House Speaker and Senate President Pro Tem.