HB 2642 -
By Committee on Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 (1) The liquor control board shall
establish a pilot project as provided in this section to allow wine or
beer tasting at farmers markets.
(2) The pilot project shall consist of ten farmers markets with at
least six days of tastings to be conducted by one or two wineries or
microbreweries at each farmers market between July 1, 2010, and
September 30, 2011. The pilot project farmers markets shall be
selected by the liquor control board in consultation with statewide
organizations of farmers markets. The board shall make an effort to
select farmers markets throughout the entire state.
(3) Farmers markets chosen to participate in the pilot project must
be authorized on May 1, 2010, to allow wineries or microbreweries to
sell bottled wine or beer at retail under RCW 66.24.170. A winery or
microbrewery offering samples under this section must have an
endorsement on January 1, 2010, from the liquor control board to sell
wine or beer of its own production at a farmers market under RCW
66.24.170.
(4) Samples may be offered only under the following conditions:
(a) Each sample must be two ounces or less, up to a total of four
ounces per customer per day. A winery or microbrewery may provide only
one sample of any single brand and type of wine or beer to a customer
per day. If two wineries or microbreweries offer samples at a farmers
market on a tasting day, a winery or microbrewery may provide only a
total of two ounces of wine or beer per customer per day.
(b) A winery or microbrewery may advertise that it offers samples
only at the winery's or microbrewery's booth, stall, or other
designated location at the farmers market.
(c) Customers must remain at the winery's or microbrewery's booth,
stall, or other designated location while sampling wine or beer.
(d) Winery or microbrewery licensees and employees who are involved
in sampling activities under this section must hold a class 12 or class
13 alcohol server permit.
(5) The liquor control board may establish additional requirements
by rule to ensure that persons under twenty-one years of age and
apparently intoxicated persons cannot possess or consume alcohol under
the authority granted in this section.
(6) The liquor control board may prohibit sampling at a farmers
market that is within the boundaries of an alcohol impact area
recognized by resolution of the board if the board finds that the
sampling activities at the farmers market are having an adverse effect
on the reduction of chronic public inebriation in the area.
(7) The liquor control board shall report on the pilot project to
the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2011.
Sec. 2 RCW 66.24.170 and 2009 c 373 s 4 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) There shall be a license for domestic wineries or
microbreweries; fee to be computed only on the liters manufactured:
Less than two hundred fifty thousand liters per year, one hundred
dollars per year; and two hundred fifty thousand liters or more per
year, four hundred dollars per year.
(2) The license allows for the manufacture of wine or beer in
Washington state from grapes or other agricultural products.
(3) Any domestic winery or microbrewery licensed under this section
may also act as a retailer of wine or beer of its own production. Any
domestic winery or microbrewery licensed under this section may act as
a distributor of its own production. Notwithstanding any language in
this title to the contrary, a domestic winery or microbrewery may use
a common carrier to deliver up to one hundred cases of its own
production, in the aggregate, per month to licensed Washington
retailers. A domestic winery or microbrewery may not arrange for any
such common carrier shipments to licensed retailers of wine or beer not
of its own production. Except as provided in this section, any winery
or microbrewery operating as a distributor and/or retailer under this
subsection shall comply with the applicable laws and rules relating to
distributors and/or retailers, except that a winery or microbrewery
operating as a distributor may maintain a warehouse off the premises of
the winery or microbrewery for the distribution of wine or beer of its
own production provided that: (a) The warehouse has been approved by
the board under RCW 66.24.010; and (b) the number of warehouses off the
premises of the winery or microbrewery does not exceed one.
(4) A domestic winery or microbrewery licensed under this section,
at locations separate from any of its production or manufacturing
sites, may serve samples of its own products, with or without charge,
and sell wine or beer of its own production at retail, provided that:
(a) Each additional location has been approved by the board under RCW
66.24.010; (b) the total number of additional locations does not exceed
two; (c) a winery or microbrewery may not act as a distributor at any
such additional location; and (d) any person selling or serving wine or
beer at an additional location for on-premise consumption must obtain
a class 12 or class 13 alcohol server permit. Each additional location
is deemed to be part of the winery or microbrewery license for the
purpose of this title. At additional locations operated by multiple
wineries or microbreweries under this section, if the board cannot
connect a violation of RCW 66.44.200 or 66.44.270 to a single licensee,
the board may hold all licensees operating the additional location
jointly liable. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
prevent a domestic winery or microbrewery from holding multiple
domestic winery or microbrewery licenses.
(5)(a) A domestic winery or microbrewery licensed under this
section may apply to the board for an endorsement to sell wine or beer
of its own production at retail for off-premises consumption at a
qualifying farmers market. The annual fee for this endorsement is
seventy-five dollars. An endorsement issued pursuant to this
subsection does not count toward the two additional retail locations
limit specified in this section.
(b) For each month during which a domestic winery or microbrewery
will sell wine or beer at a qualifying farmers market, the winery or
microbrewery must provide the board or its designee a list of the
dates, times, and locations at which bottled wine or beer may be
offered for sale. This list must be received by the board before the
winery or microbrewery may offer wine or beer for sale at a qualifying
farmers market.
(c) The wine or beer sold at qualifying farmers markets must be
made entirely from grapes grown in a recognized Washington appellation
or from other agricultural products grown in this state.
(d) Each approved location in a qualifying farmers market is deemed
to be part of the winery or microbrewery license for the purpose of
this title. Except as provided in section 1 of this act, the approved
locations under an endorsement granted under this subsection do not
include the tasting or sampling privilege of a winery or microbrewery.
The winery may not store wine or beer at a farmers market beyond the
hours that the winery or microbrewery offers bottled wine for sale.
The winery or microbrewery may not act as a distributor from a farmers
market location.
(e) Before a winery or microbrewery may sell bottled wine or beer
at a qualifying farmers market, the farmers market must apply to the
board for authorization for any winery or microbrewery with an
endorsement approved under this subsection to sell bottled wine or beer
at retail at the farmers market. This application shall include, at a
minimum: (i) A map of the farmers market showing all booths, stalls,
or other designated locations at which an approved winery or
microbrewery may sell bottled wine or beer; and (ii) the name and
contact information for the on-site market managers who may be
contacted by the board or its designee to verify the locations at which
bottled wine or beer may be sold. Before authorizing a qualifying
farmers market to allow an approved winery or microbrewery to sell
bottled wine or beer at retail at its farmers market location, the
board shall notify the persons or entities of such application for
authorization pursuant to RCW 66.24.010 (8) and (9). An authorization
granted under this subsection (5)(e) may be withdrawn by the board for
any violation of this title or any rules adopted under this title.
(f) The board may adopt rules establishing the application and
approval process under this section and such additional rules as may be
necessary to implement this section.
(g) For the purposes of this subsection:
(i) "Qualifying farmers market" means an entity that sponsors a
regular assembly of vendors at a defined location for the purpose of
promoting the sale of agricultural products grown or produced in this
state directly to the consumer under conditions that meet the following
minimum requirements:
(A) There are at least five participating vendors who are farmers
selling their own agricultural products;
(B) The total combined gross annual sales of vendors who are
farmers exceeds the total combined gross annual sales of vendors who
are processors or resellers;
(C) The total combined gross annual sales of vendors who are
farmers, processors, or resellers exceeds the total combined gross
annual sales of vendors who are not farmers, processors, or resellers;
(D) The sale of imported items and secondhand items by any vendor
is prohibited; and
(E) No vendor is a franchisee.
(ii) "Farmer" means a natural person who sells, with or without
processing, agricultural products that he or she raises on land he or
she owns or leases in this state or in another state's county that
borders this state.
(iii) "Processor" means a natural person who sells processed food
that he or she has personally prepared on land he or she owns or leases
in this state or in another state's county that borders this state.
(iv) "Reseller" means a natural person who buys agricultural
products from a farmer and resells the products directly to the
consumer.
(6) Wine or beer produced in Washington state by a domestic winery
or microbrewery licensee may be shipped out-of-state for the purpose of
making it into sparkling wine or beer and then returned to such
licensee for resale. Such wine or beer shall be deemed wine or beer
manufactured in the state of Washington for the purposes of RCW
66.24.206, and shall not require a special license.
Sec. 3 RCW 66.28.040 and 2009 c 373 s 8 are each amended to read
as follows:
Except as permitted by the board under RCW 66.20.010, no domestic
brewery, microbrewery, distributor, distiller, domestic winery,
importer, rectifier, certificate of approval holder, or other
manufacturer of liquor shall, within the state of Washington, give to
any person any liquor; but nothing in this section nor in RCW 66.28.010
shall prevent a domestic brewery, microbrewery, distributor, domestic
winery, distiller, certificate of approval holder, or importer from
furnishing samples of beer, wine, or spirituous liquor to authorized
licensees for the purpose of negotiating a sale, in accordance with
regulations adopted by the liquor control board, provided that the
samples are subject to taxes imposed by RCW 66.24.290 and 66.24.210,
and in the case of spirituous liquor, any product used for samples must
be purchased at retail from the board; nothing in this section shall
prevent the furnishing of samples of liquor to the board for the
purpose of negotiating the sale of liquor to the state liquor control
board; nothing in this section shall prevent a domestic brewery,
microbrewery, domestic winery, distillery, certificate of approval
holder, or distributor from furnishing beer, wine, or spirituous liquor
for instructional purposes under RCW 66.28.150; nothing in this section
shall prevent a domestic winery, certificate of approval holder, or
distributor from furnishing wine without charge, subject to the taxes
imposed by RCW 66.24.210, to a not-for-profit group organized and
operated solely for the purpose of enology or the study of viticulture
which has been in existence for at least six months and that uses wine
so furnished solely for such educational purposes or a domestic winery,
or an out-of-state certificate of approval holder, from furnishing wine
without charge or a domestic brewery, or an out-of-state certificate of
approval holder, from furnishing beer without charge, subject to the
taxes imposed by RCW 66.24.210 or 66.24.290, or a domestic distiller
licensed under RCW 66.24.140 or an accredited representative of a
distiller, manufacturer, importer, or distributor of spirituous liquor
licensed under RCW 66.24.310, from furnishing spirits without charge,
to a nonprofit charitable corporation or association exempt from
taxation under section 501(c)(3) or (6) of the internal revenue code of
1986 (26 U.S.C. Sec. 501(c)(3) or (6)) for use consistent with the
purpose or purposes entitling it to such exemption; nothing in this
section shall prevent a domestic brewery or microbrewery from serving
beer without charge, on the brewery premises; nothing in this section
shall prevent donations of wine for the purposes of RCW 66.12.180;
nothing in this section shall prevent a domestic winery from serving
wine without charge, on the winery premises; ((and)) nothing in this
section shall prevent a craft distillery from serving spirits without
charge, on the distillery premises subject to RCW 66.24.145; and
nothing in this section shall prevent a winery or microbrewery from
serving samples at a farmers market under section 1 of this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4 This act expires December 1, 2011."
HB 2642 -
By Committee on Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection
On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "markets;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "amending RCW 66.24.170 and 66.28.040; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date."