You asked for a list of states requiring alcoholic beverage wholesalers to post their prices to retailers and an analysis of applicable laws.

SUMMARY

Twelve of the 38 license states, or almost one-third, require wholesalers to post alcoholic beverage prices to retailers. These are: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

Five states—Connecticut, Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey, and New York—require wholesalers to post their prices monthly. In six states, they must be filed by the fifteenth day of the month preceding the month prices take effect. Post-off provisions (a price reduction not tied to the quantity of alcohol purchased by retailers) are permitted in Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. The following nine states allow wholesalers to change prices at various times in the month preceding the month changes are to occur: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Five states—Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and West Virginia—require price dissemination by either direct mail or publication in an applicable trade journal.

Table 1 (attached) provides a breakdown of applicable alcoholic beverage price-posting laws in the twelve states requiring such procedures.

PRICE-POSTING

Five states—Connecticut, Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey, and New York—require wholesalers to post their prices monthly. Three—Georgia, Indiana, and South Dakota—require them to continuously update price-posting schedules as changes occur. Wholesalers in Massachusetts and Oklahoma file price-posting schedules bi-monthly. In West Virginia, schedules are filed quarterly. In Maryland, the price-posting filing schedule is at the state comptroller's discretion.

PRICE-POSTING FILING SCHEDULES

Terms of price-posting filing schedules vary among the states. In six states, they must be filed by the fifteenth day of the month preceding the month prices take effect. But, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, and West Virginia do not specify an exact day lists must be submitted. Delaware and South Dakota permit the filing of price-posting schedules during the second half of the month preceding the month prices take effect.

POST-OFF PROVISIONS

Post-off provisions (a price reduction not tied to quantity of alcohol purchased by the individual retailers) are permitted in Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. They are not permitted in Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. Connecticut, Indiana, and Maryland's laws do not address post-off provisions.

PRICE CHANGES

The following nine states allow wholesalers to change prices at various times in the month preceding the month changes are to occur: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia. In Maryland and Massachusetts, price changes are allowed at the discretion of the state's alcoholic beverage governing agency. New Jersey does not permit price changes.

PRICE DISSEMINATION

Five states—Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and West Virginia—require price dissemination by either direct mail or publication in an applicable trade journal. Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, and New York do not address price dissemination. New Jersey and South Dakota do not require price dissemination, but wholesalers in both states typically follow the practice voluntarily.

The 38 license states are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

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