This Washington
Extra Fizz: Liquor Privatization Initiative Filed
Conservative blogger Stefan Sharkansky filed a liquor privatization initiative with the secretary of state yesterday.
Sharkansky also had a hand in writing one of last year's two liquor privatization initiatives, I-1100—the one that was backed by Costco (they spent $1.2 million on the campaign) and dismantled the three-tiered regulation that currently prevents retailers from getting into the distribution game. (It also allowed volume discounts for retailers which made the whole thing seem like a blueprint for a Costco monopoly .)
Both initiatives lost last year; 2010's competing privatization initiative got rid of the tax on booze.
To get the new initiative, I-1157, on the ballot, supporters of liquor privatization will need slightly more than 240,000 valid signatures by July 8.
Sharkansky's new initiative, I-1157, also strikes out the three-tiered system and repeals the liquor board's power to "establish price standards."
The initiative keeps liquor taxes in place and says the state will only "license the sale of distilled spirits ... to strictly regulated vendors who are already proven to be responsible sellers of beer and wine."
Sharkansky also had a hand in writing one of last year's two liquor privatization initiatives, I-1100—the one that was backed by Costco (they spent $1.2 million on the campaign) and dismantled the three-tiered regulation that currently prevents retailers from getting into the distribution game. (It also allowed volume discounts for retailers which made the whole thing seem like a blueprint for a Costco monopoly .)
Both initiatives lost last year; 2010's competing privatization initiative got rid of the tax on booze.
To get the new initiative, I-1157, on the ballot, supporters of liquor privatization will need slightly more than 240,000 valid signatures by July 8.
Sharkansky's new initiative, I-1157, also strikes out the three-tiered system and repeals the liquor board's power to "establish price standards."
The initiative keeps liquor taxes in place and says the state will only "license the sale of distilled spirits ... to strictly regulated vendors who are already proven to be responsible sellers of beer and wine."
