SB 5788 "Omnibus Stakeholder Bill"

SB 5788 contains WWI language that will fix some of the issues wineries have reported experiencing when participating in charitable events. As you know, it's common practice for charities to hire an event coordinator, who provides the valuable service of coordinating winery involvement with the event. If passed, SB 5788 will allow you to pay a reasonable booth fee to the charitable organization hosting the event (a practice that is currently illegal) for their coordinating services. The bill will also help to alleviate the headaches associated with payment for your wine at the event. Instead of dealing with the now commonplace "check swap", the charity will be able to pay you for your wine sold at the close of the event.

SB 5788 would also resolve an issue with Agents Licenses that has come up in recent months. The WSLCB interprets current law to require that wineries and their employees (except those that are a sole-proprietorship) obtain an annual $25 Agents License in order to sell and market wine off of their winery premise, including to retailers! This is a requirement that we believe very few wineries are aware of, so WWI introduced language that will make it clear in the law that wineries and their employees do not need an Agents License to sell their own wine.

Also included in our SB 5788 stakeholders' bill is a language that will help our friends at WAWGG and other industry trade shows. At the WSLCB's suggestion, our bill adds a provision that will allow barrel vendors and other liquor related vendors to provide wine, beer or liquor samples at trade events for better analysis of their products. Without this fix, these vendors would be serving without a license.

HB 1227 "Corkage Fees"

HB 1227 and SB 5173 would allow wineries and restaurants to participate together in corkage waiving programs to promote local tourism. As you'll recall, this legislation came about as a result of a liquor board enforcement action that put a stop to the popular "Corkage Free Zone" in Yakima. While WWI was able to reach an agreement with the WSLCB to continue the program immediately, these two bills are still moving through the process as additional support for the activity.

HB 1172/ SB 5029 "Farmer's Markets Wine Tasting

WWI testified in support of these clone bills that would establish a pilot program for beer and wine tastings at farmer's markets, much like the pilot program for grocery store that reached permanent status last Session. WWI is happy to support legislation that promotes wineries in their communities and we strongly believe that the more consumers are able to interact with winemakers and sample wonderful Washington wines, the more consumers will purchase them!