enabling wine and beverage manufacturers to offer tastings of and sell products of certain New Hampshire wine and beverage manufacturers and relative to defacing of controlled products.

The bill's status header was updated from 'AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE' to 'VERSION ADOPTED BY BOTH BODIES,' indicating the bill passed its final legislative stage. No policy language, definitions, requirements, or enforcement provisions were altered.

A new section (RSA 179:31-a) was added that prohibits off-premise license holders and their employees or agents from intentionally defacing any controlled product or its packaging or labeling prior to sale or delivery to a consumer.

The new section defines prohibited defacing to include removing, cutting, tearing, peeling off, or damaging any portion of the original label or packaging, as well as applying any sticker, tag, marking, or other material.

Exceptions were created for price tags, inventory control stickers, security devices, and similar markings used in ordinary business, as well as actions required by state or federal law, administrative rule, product recall notice, or lawful regulatory order.

A licensee cannot be subject to suspension, revocation, or other administrative penalty solely because a controlled product was defaced if the defacing occurred without the licensee's authorization, direction, or knowing permission.

The entire fiscal note was removed, including the estimate of $10,000 to $100,000 in annual revenue from the new $120 license fee and the methodology explaining how that figure was derived.

The effective date provision was renumbered from Section 3 to Section 4 to accommodate the insertion of the new defacing prohibition as Section 3.

The original provision allowing wine manufacturers to sell and transport wines directly to holders of on-premises, off-premises, or wine manufacturer licenses (amending RSA 178:8, II) was removed entirely.

The original provision allowing beverage manufacturers producing 15,000 barrels or less to distribute directly to retail licensees and other beverage manufacturers, with a 5,000-barrel cap on in-state direct retail sales (amending RSA 178:12, IV(b)), was removed entirely.

A new provision (RSA 178:8, XIII) allows wine manufacturers with sales under 1,000 cases per licensing year to purchase products from beverage manufacturers or other wine manufacturers for sampling or selling at their own premises, for an additional $120 annual fee.

A new provision (RSA 178:12, XIV) allows beverage manufacturers with production under 2,500 barrels per licensing year to purchase products from any wine manufacturer or any other beverage manufacturer regardless of that manufacturer's production volume, for sampling or selling at their own premises, for an additional $120 annual fee.

The fee structure changed from a $216 annual fee for a wine manufacturer retail outlet to a $120 additional annual fee for participating in the cross-selling arrangement, applicable to both wine and beverage manufacturers.

New operational limitations were added: sample sizes must follow existing statutory limits, off-premises sales at other facilities are limited to unopened original containers, all activities must occur during normal business hours, and customers must be of legal drinking age.