Time to overhaul liquor regulations, shut down state sales operation

This editorial appears in the Yakima Herald-Republic on Jan. 8, 2009.

Some Washington wineries think 2009 could be a year to achieve some thinning of the state's forest of liquor regulations by the Washington Legislature.

We say: Rev up the chainsaw.

The proposal from a group of smaller wineries, according to an Associated Press story last week, is for the state to further relax a series of post-Prohibition rules that all but ban cross-ownership between businesses that produce, distribute and sell liquor at retail.

Other laws they would like to toss or modify involve minimum markups on the price of liquor sold to distributors and retailers and bans on quantity discounts, buying on credit and central warehousing and even merchandising and advertising to retailers by producers and distributors.

Though they say they are open to some changes in the decades-old rules, state officials defend the pricing standards as necessary in an effort to keep alcohol consumption from increasing.

Said Rick Garza, the state liquor control board's deputy director, "Those pricing regulations are there to raise the price of alcohol to deter people from consuming too much alcohol."

Sure, and the state slaps major taxes on cigarettes and gasoline to discourage consumption, and not to produce revenue, right? Of course not.

Cigarette taxes generate money, some of it is used to fund anti-smoking campaigns while other funds are linked to state health care programs since smokers get sick more often and some of them receive state-subsidized medical insurance.

Gasoline taxes in Washington are among the nation's highest, but the primary reason is not that lawmakers are trying to get us to fill up at the pump less often, it's because the money generated by those taxes are needed to fund road improvements, maintenance and other transportation efforts.

That is why we think state policy makers ought to consider an overhaul of these outdated rules around alcohol -- but they ought to do so as part of a major change in the state's overall relationship with booze.

Want to improve the business climate in the Evergreen State, cut millions in state spending on real estate and employees and not impact tax collections one dime? Get the state out of the liquor retailing business altogether.

Want to reduce alcohol consumption? Raising prices -- unless the state is willing to jump them by 50 percent -- isn't going to do it. Besides, modest alcohol consumption by adults 21 and over isn't necessarily unhealthy. The state's main interest should be in preventing underage drinking, encouraging people who choose to imbibe to do so responsibly and keeping those who drink too much from getting behind the wheel of a car. We'd be pleased if the state took some of the savings produced by scrapping the outdated, cumbersome and, frankly, inconvenient state liquor store model and funnel them into alcohol abuse awareness programs and DUI enforcement.

Yes, lawmakers ought to look at revamping the rules around alcohol distribution -- but we'd encourage them to consider dismantling state-controlled liquor retailing apparatus while they're at it. Consumers, taxpayers and retailers could all reap the benefits.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Barbara Serrano, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.

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