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2006 Washington Wine Institute Update
The 2006 Washington State Legislative Session was an especially challenging and ultimately successful Session for Washington wineries, not to mention the wine industry as a whole. In addition to outreach by our team in Seattle, careful analysis and strategy from our Board and numerous visits to Olympia by our Executive Director, WWI has a full-time contract lobbyist working tirelessly on our behalf in Olympia. Through our combined efforts and the input of our members, we are happy to report that we were able to work with the Legislature to pass some important laws that will improve the way in which wineries can promote, sell and distribute wine. Highlights include: Substitute House Bill 3150 - Brochures/Private Labels Until now, Washington's "tied-house" laws prohibited joint advertising among wineries, restaurants and hotels when each entity holds a liquor license. Wineries will now be able to:
 Substitute House Bill 3128 - Clore Fix As you may be aware, The Walter J. Clore Center in Prosser broke ground in March, thanks in part to funding we were able to secure from the Legislature last year. Another exemption to the current "tied house" laws was necessary for the success of the Center. This new law allows persons affiliated with the wine industry to serve as Board members for the Clore Center even after the Center opens and serves and sells wine. This was an important fix to ensure the Clore Center is able to fulfill its vision of being the ultimate wine tourist destination and gateway to Washington Wine Country, bolstering tourism overall for our industry. Substitute Senate Bill 6537 - Direct to Consumers Washington has long had a reciprocity law allowing other states to sell wine in Washington if, in return, we were allowed to sell wine in their state. However, a recent Supreme Court case brought those laws into question; the Court held that states must treat in-state wineries and out-of-state wineries the same, with respect to consumer shipping laws. Pursuant to that ruling, most states are adopting laws that either open up their state to direct shipping or close direct shipping down. Our new law sets up a "permit" system which will allow Washington wineries to continue to ship wine inside the state and also allow out-of-state wineries to purchase a permit to ship wine into Washington, if they pay our taxes and fees and follow strict shipping restrictions. Substitute Senate Bill 6823 - Direct to Retailer Washington wineries have enjoyed the ability to sell their wine directly to a retail outlet (restaurant, grocery or wine store) without using a distributor, for many years. As in most states that produce wine, this benefit has only been granted to the in-state producers. The Costco court case called this privilege into question by asserting that our law, based on the above US Supreme Court ruling, was unconstitutional. In Federal District Court, the Judge agreed and ruled that she would shut down the in-state privilege if the Legislature did not come up with a Constitutional solution. This would have been devastating to the majority of Washington wineries and we were forced to move quickly and aggressively to find a solution acceptable to the Legislature and other parties involved. Our new law:
As a WWI member, your interests will be skillfully represented in Olympia. Over the years, our team has developed close working relationships with Legislators, legislative staff, and regulatory entities that have proven to be extremely beneficial to our successes with the Legislature. Of course, our work would not be possible without the input of our member wineries and the insight they provide each Session. |