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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2019
Oregon lawmakers reintroduce bill to
eliminate alcohol taxes on kombucha
By MEERAH POWELL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Workers make repairs to a bridge on the Astoria riverfront.
Bridge: All three bridges
will be open for the summer
Continued from Page A1
the bridge replacement has
not seemed to impact his
business as much. Nor has
Hygge Hair Co. , a salon on
the west side of 11th Street ,
seen much of a slowdown.
But other businesses have
suffered, including Astoria
Brewing Co. on the bottom
corner of 11th Street.
Smoked Bones BBQ in
the Pier 11 Mall only opened
a year ago and has defi nitely
felt the hit.
“Neither one of us is
really pulling any income
from the place,” said
co-owner Mark Winheim.
After construction began
on the bridge, c o-owner Phil
Spencer picked up part-time
work at Street 14 Cafe to
make extra money. T he pair
have experimented with dif-
ferent menu items to expand
what they can offer.
They say the city has
been lenient with them and
other business owners about
the types of signs they dis-
play, allowing signs that
usually wouldn’t pass mus-
ter but that have helped keep
their businesses in the pub-
lic eye.
“After this winter, I don’t
think there’s one we can’t
survive,” Winheim said.
Despite all the hassles,
people are beginning to see
the light at the end of what
has felt like a very long
tunnel.
Routes around the closed
areas have become more
familiar to customers. T he
Astoria Riverfront Trolley
was back on the rails for
s pring b reak, albeit on a cur-
tailed route.
With the bridge con-
struction , the trolley could
only travel from the Port
of Astoria area up to Sixth
Street, but was scheduled
to run daily through April
7. For now, trolley oper-
ators plan to run the trol-
ley Fridays, Saturdays and
Sundays through the end of
May.
All three bridges will
be open for the summer,
according to Legacy’s con-
tract with the state. But the
pause in construction will
be brief. Work on the next
three bridges — at the bases
of Sixth, Eighth and 10th
s treets — is set to begin in
the fall.
Though 11th Street will
again be open to foot and car
traffi c, businesses like Buoy
Beer Co. , located between
Seventh and Eighth s treets,
will continue to feel the
impact of the work.
The overall impact will
likely be smaller with the
next trio of bridges, said
Sarah Lu Heath, execu-
tive director of the Astoria
Downtown Historic District
Association. But, thinking
of Buoy, she hopes “creative
crane placement” could
keep the brewery’s parking
lot off Eighth Street open
during construction.
Moore said residents and
visitors should expect simi-
lar types of road closures.
“Unfortunately, I think
we all agree the work has to
be done,” Heath said. “So
speed is what we’d love to
see, if there were any effi -
ciencies learned this year,
going into next year.”
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Bipartisan members of
Oregon’s
congressional
delegation
reintroduced
legislation Thursday that
would eliminate the regu-
lations that tax kombucha
like alcohol.
The popular fermented
drink is a mixture of tea,
water and a symbiotic cul-
ture of bacteria and yeast. It
has trace amounts of alco-
hol but is still taxed in the
same way as any other
alcoholic drink.
The legislation, called
the Keeping our Manufac-
turers from Being Unfairly
Taxed while Championing
Health Act (or KOMBU-
CHA), was reintroduced by
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, U.S.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer and
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden.
“Kombucha’s growth
in Oregon generates jobs
and small business growth
throughout our state while
creating fans everywhere
of this tasty beverage,”
Wyden, a Democrat, said
in a release. “Moderniz-
ing outdated taxes and reg-
ulations on kombucha is a
must so this industry can
continue to build on its
achievements.”
Wyden originally intro-
duced the bill in 2017,
though it never made it to a
vote in the Senate.
Fermented beverages
containing at least 0.5 per-
cent of alcohol by volume
are subject to federal alco-
hol excise taxes and other
regulations.
The bill would increase
the
alcohol-by-volume
limit for kombucha from
0.5 percent to 1.25 percent.
“Kombucha is one the
fastest growing beverage
industries in the world,
with an expected economic
impact of $1.2 billion by
2020,” Blumenauer, a
Democrat, said. “This leg-
islation is a common-sense
solution that would lift
unnecessary tax burdens
and instead support emerg-
ing small businesses in
Oregon and across the
country.”
Walden, a Republican,
echoed the sentiment that
the legislation could help
small business owners.
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