Read first time 01/21/2004.   Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

     AN ACT Relating to allowing licensees to pay for liquor using debit and credit cards; and amending RCW 66.08.026 and 66.16.041.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 66.08.026 and 2001 c 313 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     All administrative expenses of the board incurred on and after April 1, 1963, shall be appropriated and paid from the liquor revolving fund. These administrative expenses shall include, but not be limited to: The salaries and expenses of the board and its employees, the cost of establishing, leasing, maintaining, and operating state liquor stores and warehouses, legal services, pilot projects, annual or other audits, and other general costs of conducting the business of the board, and the costs of supplying, installing, and maintaining equipment used in state liquor stores and agency liquor vendor stores for the purchase of liquor ((by nonlicensees)) using debit or credit cards. The administrative expenses shall not, however, be deemed to include costs of liquor and lottery tickets purchased, the cost of transportation and delivery to the point of distribution, other costs pertaining to the acquisition and receipt of liquor and lottery tickets, packaging and repackaging of liquor, agency commissions for agency liquor vendor stores, transaction fees associated with credit or debit card purchases for liquor in state liquor stores and in the stores of agency liquor vendors pursuant to RCW 66.16.040 and 66.16.041, sales tax, and those amounts distributed pursuant to RCW 66.08.180, 66.08.190, 66.08.200, 66.08.210 and 66.08.220. Agency commissions for agency liquor vendor stores shall be established by the liquor control board after consultation with and approval by the director of the office of financial management. All expenditures and payment of obligations authorized by this section are subject to the allotment requirements of chapter 43.88 RCW.

Sec. 2   RCW 66.16.041 and 1998 c 265 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The state liquor control board shall accept bank credit card and debit cards ((from nonlicensees)) for purchases in state liquor stores, under such rules as the board may adopt. The board shall authorize liquor vendors appointed under RCW 66.08.050 to accept bank credit cards and debit cards for liquor purchases under this title, under such rules as the board may adopt.
     (2) If a liquor vendor operating an agency store chooses to use credit or debit cards for liquor purchases ((by nonlicensees)), the board shall provide equipment and installation and maintenance of the equipment necessary to implement the use of credit and debit cards. Any equipment provided by the board to an agency liquor vendor store for this purpose may be used only for the purchase of liquor.
     (3) If the revenues and expenditures associated with implementing the use of credit and debit cards for the purchase of alcohol ((by nonlicensees)) from state liquor stores and agency stores operated by liquor vendors results in a reduction of the liquor revolving fund balance for fiscal year 1999 and the 1999-01 biennium, the board shall consider increasing the price of alcohol products to offset the reduction.
     (((4) The board shall provide a report evaluating the implementation of this section, including revenue and expenditures, to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 1998.))