Californias winery shakedown tests limits of free speech, association

A California county is trying to force businesses to pay dues to a trade association they may not support — just like unions that once forced workers to join and to pay dues.And the precedent could hurt businesses across the Golden State.Most Californians have never heard of Flying Goat Cellars, a family winery in Lompoc.They should.I have spent plenty of time tasting my way through Los Olivos, Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley over the years, and I’ve had Flying Goat’s wine.These are not faceless corporations.

They are small businesses where the owner may be the person pouring your tasting flight and telling you the story behind the bottle.That makes Santa Barbara County’s newest mandate so troubling.Last year, Santa Barbara County’s Board of Supervisors created a Wine Business Improvement District.Wineries selling directly to consumers must pay a 1% assessment on their sales.Another tax? Nobody is shocked when California finds a new way to take more money.What makes this so insidious is that it isn’t a tax in the traditional sense.

The money doesn’t fund roads, police, parks or public programs.It funds the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association, a private trade organization that controls how the money is spent.But even that isn’t the whole problem.

The issue is compulsion.Wineries don’t just pay the assessment — they must join the association, too.No opt out.No choice.

Pay the assessment.Join the organization.

Fund the speech.Flying Goat Cellars disagrees with the association’s priorities, marketing strategy and advocacy efforts.Santa Barbara County says that doesn’t matter.As Flying Goat co-owner Kate Griffith put it in a recent interview, “[I]t’s just absurd that we are having to opt-in without a choice.”The legal question is straightforward: Can government force a business owner to financially support speech he or she disagrees with? Can government compel membership in a private organization against someone’s wishes?The ...