S-4327.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6253

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor (originally sponsored by Senators Schow, Horn, Swecker, Rasmussen, Goings and T. Sheldon)

Read first time 02/06/98.

Reimbursing state liquor stores and agency liquor vendors for costs of credit and debit sales of liquor.

    AN ACT Relating to credit and debit card purchases in state liquor stores; 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 1997 c 148 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 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, 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.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 66.16.041 and 1997 c 148 s 2 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) The board shall provide a report evaluating the implementation of this section to the appropriate committees of the legislature by January 1, 1998.

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