Following a serious ceremony at the Missoula City Council chambers where Governor Steve Bullock signed bills to strengthen sexual assault statutes, he participated in a ceremonial bill signing at Bayern Brewery with a toast to HB 541.

Prior to the ceremony, the bipartisan bill sponsors Democrat Ellie Hill and Republican Adam Hertz praised the passage of the bill that raises the production limit for Montana's breweries.

"Representative Hertz and I came together for what we called bipartisan beer love," Hill said. "It's been a fight for a long time over a lot of old regulations and with a lot of bipartisan support and a lot of negotiations, we were finally able to raise the cap."

Hertz said the bill encourages craft brewers to grow their businesses.

"These businesses were artificially constrained by government, so now they can reach their full potential, and I think they will," Hertz said.

Governor Bullock laid out the numbers for small craft breweries in the state.

"We go from a 10,000 barrel cap to 60,000," Bullock said. "The backbone of Montana really is small business and these are small businessmen are expanding, and as they do bringing the values of Montana and the brand of Montana far beyond this 147,000 square mile border."

Following the ceremonial signing, Governor Bullock toasted the legislators and brewery owners on hand for the event with a glass of craft brewed beer from the Bayern Brewery.

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