booze_spotlight.jpg
The same people who sponsored Initiative 1183 to privatize liquor stores aren't happy with how things are turning out. (AP photo)

Interpretation of new liquor law confusing to bars, restaurants

BY Kim Shepard  on May 25, 2012 @ 12:33 pm (Updated: 3:46 pm - 5/25/12 )

The Washington Restaurant Association is not happy with how the Liquor Control Board is interpreting Initiative 1183, the voter approved plan to get the state out of the business of selling booze.

The association's Bruce Beckett was the lead sponsor of the initiative. He says the liquor board wants to limit how much alcohol bars and restaurants are allowed to buy from the new private retailers. The cap proposed is 24 liters per day unless they go straight to a distributor.

"I have no idea how you would possibly enforce this kind of rule. I mean, what's to prevent someone from going out to the parking lot, putting the order in their car, and going across the street to another store," says Beckett.

He says it is bad for restaurants and bad for the new liquor stores.

Brian Smith, spokesman for the Liquor Control Board, notes the 24 liter limit was included in the language of the initiative. The board's job is simply to interpret that portion of the plan.

Beckett argues they never meant for the limit to apply to an entire day, only to a single purchase. Smith says they have to interpret the initiative as written and can not go by what the authors meant to say.

The Liquor Control Board will be taking a final vote on the new rules next Wednesday. Smith says he does not expect the limit for restaurants and bars to be changed.

Initiative 1183 goes into effect June 1.

Kim Shepard, KIRO Radio Reporter
Kim Shepard is a news anchor and reporter for KIRO Radio and the office optimist. She's energetic, quick to laugh and has a positive outlook on life.
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Comments (8)


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  • fourstringfuror wrote...
    Don't fall for the hype
    May 25, 2012 3:12 pm
    This is just more confusion intended to make 1183 look bad.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • soo purletiv wrote...
    Like a woman scorned.....
    May 25, 2012 4:41 pm
    How dare those peon voters defy our control! We may have lost the vote, but we will never give up control. We will scan the initiative front to back, top to bottom and find every little loop hole or incongruity. If we can't find one, then we will STRETCH the definition and make one!

    We will punish those defiant little voters. Any one who benefits from this new law will suffer. WE HAVE THE POWER! WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE POWER! They will learn, THEY..... WILL..... LEARN!

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Alex Mason wrote...
    Time to add another agency to the shutdown list.
    May 25, 2012 8:16 pm
    1. Department of ecology. 2. Department of emissions. 3. -- Liquor control board. And it will be all better.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • xplanes wrote...
    Sounds like sour grapes
    May 25, 2012 8:40 pm
    No wait, that would be wine.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Burn_Notice wrote...
    You mean 'Whining"...
    May 25, 2012 9:12 pm
    Yes the WSLCB is like any other bureaucracy interpreting the rules to fit their self-serving agenda, instead of inquiring as to the legislative intent. Now they get to argue for the next year on how to reformat a couple of sentences.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Beetle1977 wrote...
    @ Alex Mason
    May 25, 2012 9:50 pm
    I'd like to add the Department of Labor & Industries to your list, right behind the DOE. Thank you.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • scorpioddp wrote...
    Then enforce all law equally
    May 26, 2012 6:12 am
    They pick and choose which provision to enforce. Should enforce E-verify first and then this law. Restaurants just needs to send several employees to go and but the booze then. 24 liters per employee. Send a few and just go back and forth from the store to the van. Better yet, go to Oregon and store, then they don't have to pay sale tax.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cameron wrote...
    The Best solution
    May 26, 2012 6:32 am
    Is to remove those in Olympia who currently control the State Liquor Board and it's actions. Remove the current majority party in Olympia and the Democrat Governor. Allow some common sense to creep back into regulation and administration. If the WSLCB can't grasp that the State benefits from not limiting the sales to CUSTOMERS, then they need to be disbanded and reformed into an organization that will focus on enforcement and not political payback.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }