SB457 - Lee County Wine Franchise Jobs Protection Act

• Creates the Lee County Wine Franchise Jobs Protection Act to regulate business relations between wine suppliers and wholesalers in Lee County, establishing requirements for written agreements with exclusive sales territories.

• Prohibits suppliers from fixing prices, coercing wholesalers into unwanted purchases, restricting multiple brand representation, requiring financial disclosure, or taking retaliatory actions against wholesalers filing complaints.

• Requires suppliers to provide 60 days' written notice before terminating or refusing to renew agreements, with good cause standards including material agreement breaches, and allows immediate termination only for insolvency, license revocation, felony conviction, or intentional fraud.

• Protects wholesaler business transfers to designated family members without supplier approval and allows transfers to other qualified buyers if they meet nondiscriminatory standards established by the supplier.

• Provides remedies including civil actions for damages, voluntary arbitration for compensation disputes over diminished business value, injunctive relief, and punitive damages for bad faith supplier conduct; establishes jurisdiction in Lee County Circuit Court or U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.