Advocacy Highlights

• Contacted all local governments and got over 80 local governments to allow for beer & wine to-go sales

• Contacted all local governments resulting in at least 40 governments extending certain fees and deadlines

• Worked with the Office of the Governor and other agencies to create a list of rules to allow restaurants to operate and aid their community (i.e. allowing restaurants to sell raw products)

• Successful allowance for restaurants to have take-out and curbside pick-up capabilities during shelter-in-place orders

• Created a robust website that has served as a key resource to those in the industry, having received over 145,000 users and more than 226,000 unique pageviews since March 16 (as of August 20, 2020)

• Defeated $.25 per transaction fee (City of Savannah, 2018)

• Elimination of bar cards and background checks; replaced with online alcohol training (City of Savannah, Macon-Bibb County, City of Statesboro, 2018)

• Defeated the un-bundling of alcohol permits, which would have tripled the price (City of Atlanta, 2018)

Alcohol

• Cocktails To-Go (SB 236, 2021)

• Brunch Bill (SB 17, 2018)

• Defeated  "Social Host" bill (HB 542 & HB 860, 2018) 

• Supported allowance of brewpubs to sell growlers to consumers (2016)

• Successfully lobbied to increase brewpub production barrel amounts from 5,000 to 10,000 (2012)

• Merlot to Go (SB 55, 2008)  Allows customers to take home purchased bottles of wine when dining in restaurants. 

Legal

• Supported legislation that restores Georgia's apportionment statute so all responsible parties should pay their fair share of damages to an injured party. (HB 961, 2022)

• Co-Founders of Citizens for a Prosperous Georgia, a coalition for state tort reform. 

• Defeated of Electronic Discovery Bill (HB 1017, 2016)

• Supported the creation of Georgia Business Court, which streamlines business litigation court proceedings. (SB 110, 2019)

Regulatory

• Supported the Georgia Department of Agricutlure and others in the legalization of sale and use of water spinach. (2022)

• Protecting Fuel Choice (HB 150, 2021) Ensures restaurants, businesses, personal homes, etc. will have options on the type of energy that can be used on the property. Local governments may still provide incentives to encourage the use of a specific type of fuel. 

• Rate Case (2019) Successful passage of most recent Georgia Power rate case that allows independent restaurants to utilize lower Georgia Power rates that had been restricted to chains of 50 or more units. Average saving projected at $24,000,000.00 annually.

• Supported passage of legislation requiring that all counties in the state operate by the FDA Food Code (HB 885, 2016)

• Successful obtaining of variance that allows pizza restaurants or pizza carry-out kitchens to forgo a glove requirement when handling ready-to-eat food ingredients that would be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 seconds (2012)

• Prevented mandatory posting of letter health scores on front doors of restaurants (2007)

Sustainability

• Supported Georgia Grown Commission creation, increasing brand awareness (HB 298, 2013)

• Supported permit by rule composting facility with Food Well Alliance

Tax

• Provided commentary to GA DOR with regulation of third-party delivery/”marketplace facilitators” in ensuring restaurants were not responsible for sales tax when using these service providers.

• Food Donation Tax: Removed sunset tax provision (HB 763, 2016)

• An employer can get a tax credit if they pay for their employee to get a GED (HB 63, 2015)

• Sales Tax Refund (2014) Successfully worked with GA DOR to allow for a three year sales tax refund for disposable food packaging, item for (re)sale and single-use items provided with meals. DOR clarified that the customer was the end user and the restaurants had been double taxed on sales and use tax.

Wage/Hour Labor

• Supported passage of legislation that preempts local governments from mandating work schedules and work output from employees of private business. (SB 331, 2022)

• Since 2004, Georgia has prohibited its cities and counties from establishing local minimum wages above the federal minimum wage, which applies in Georgia because its state minimum wage is below the federal minimum.

• Predictive Scheduling (HB 243, 2017)

• Local governments may not create or adopt minimum wage laws or laws that require "additional pay to employees based on schedule changes."

Wage/Hour Labor

• QIP/Restaurant Depreciation (2020): Successful fix to QIP/tax code to allow for 15-year depreciation rather than 39 years.

• Tip Credit (2019): Supported the defeat of the proposed 80/20 rule that would have required employers to pay the full minimum wage to tipped employees as well as for any non-tipped "side work" that exceeded 20% of their normal duties (instead of taking the tip credit which counted tips towards minimum wage).

• Joint employer (2019): Successful update of joint employer regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new rule simplifies the regulations and imposes a four factor test for determining joint employment.

• WOTC (2015): Supported an extension of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for 5-years in encouraging businesses to hire individuals receiving government assistance.