Peninsula Daily News news sources
OLYMPIA — It’s possible that the state Legislature might seriously consider easing or ending state government monopoly on liquor sales across Washington in the current session or next year.
Sen. Tim Sheldon of Potlatch in Mason County has been introducing bills to privatize liquor sales since 1998. Last Thursday, for the first time, the bipartisan proposal received a committee hearing.
That comes at a time when at least two of the other 17 states that now hold a monopoly on liquor sales are considering a similar change.
Sheldon’s proposal to phase in privatization by July 2012 comes on the heels of a detailed study by the State Auditor’s Office that identified and compared five options for releasing the state’s control over the liquor business. The report projects a range of fiscal outcomes from such a move, but only one variation results in an anticipated loss.
Larisa Benson, who heads up performance audits for Auditor Brian Sonntag’s office, noted in testimony before a legislative committee that projections would vary if different assumptions were made. Still, the report foresees a boost in state revenue as high as $316 million over a five-year period, depending on how privatization is structured — especially since private liquor outlets would be paying taxes to the state.
“Is it a core function of the state to be selling alcohol? I don’t think so,” Sonntag told KING-TV in Seattle.
There is still considerable opposition: The governor’s office and the Liquor Control Board have expressed misgivings. State employees can be counted on to oppose Sheldon’s measure or any proposal to join 32 other states and get out of the liquor business. Many of the 155 private operators who now run “contract” stores (as opposed to the 160 state-owned and operated stores), will object to a change.
Predictably, some citizens will be anxious about turning liquor sales over to private businesses for fear that the profit motive will encourage alcohol abuse.
