The COVID-19 pandemic has caused devastating lockdowns and restrictions on businesses out of concern for the public health. But there has been another side to the pandemic — namely the (usually temporary) lifting of certain rules and regulations. That’s what allowed for the proliferation of outdoor dining opportunities, cocktails-to-go and direct-to-consumer shipping of distilled spirits. Senate Bill 620, introduced by Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, would make the latter permanently legal. For the sake of consumer freedom and  distilleries, it merits support.

During the pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom used his executive authority to lift the previous restrictions on such direct-to-consumer shipping.

Wineries have been allowed to ship directly to consumers for decades, but distilleries have not had this same privilege.

For many distillery businesses, the temporary reprieve from the governor made a significant difference for their businesses. For consumers, it has meant an expanded range of convenient options for acquiring distilled spirits.

Senate Bill 620 would make permanent what has been working perfectly fine for wineries for decades and for distilleries for the last two years.

It’s not often that a proposal out of Sacramento, or from the governor’s office, proposes scaling back the heavy hand of government to advance economic freedom.

For that reason alone, we encourage passage of the bill as we did last year when it was first proposed.

Despite the bill being fundamentally rooted in common sense, it is not without opposition.

The state Teamsters’ union is opposed to the proposal, with one recent commentary published at Capitol Weekly arguing that allowing distilleries to ship directly to customers will impact Teamsters members by depriving brick-and-mortar businesses of sales.

The prospect of maybe losing dues-paying members may be a sufficient-sounding reason for the union to use the force of law to block direct-to-consumer shipping, but it’s a remarkably weak argument and one that lawmakers should promptly dismiss.

The economy by its nature is a complex and dynamic system. Broadening economic freedom in the long term is always beneficial on balance, for it means consumers will be freer to direct their money where they want their money to go and businesses will adjust and adapt accordingly to better serve the needs of consumers.

The roadblock to a robust and thriving spirits market should never come down to special interests or arbitrary government restrictions.