READ FIRST TIME 03/10/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to the liquor control board fully implementing a retail business plan; amending RCW 66.08.026, 66.08.060, and 66.16.041; adding new sections to chapter 66.08 RCW; repealing RCW 66.16.080; making an appropriation; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 66.08 RCW to read as follows:
     The legislature finds that the liquor control board has developed a retail services business plan to provide greater efficiency of operations and to maximize revenues to the state. The legislature intends to examine whether expanding liquor store operations to include Sundays would provide additional revenue and provide increased customer convenience.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 66.08 RCW to read as follows:
     The board shall devise a retail business plan, or amend an existing retail business plan, to implement strategies to improve the efficiency of retail sales operations and maximize revenue-generating opportunities. Strategies to be implemented shall include, but are not limited to:
     (1) Expanding store operations to include Sunday sales in selected liquor stores. Sunday sales are optional for liquor vendors operating agency stores;
     (2) Implementing a plan of in-store liquor merchandising, including point-of-sale advertising, and product specific point-of-sale promotional displays and carousels, including displays designed and provided by vendors; and
     (3) Implementing a plan for in-store liquor merchandising of brands. The plan may not include provisions for selling liquor-related items other than those items previously authorized.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 66.08 RCW to read as follows:
     By September 1, 2003, the board shall expand operations in at least twenty state-operated retail stores to include Sundays. The board shall select the stores that are expected to gross the most revenues on Sunday by considering factors including, but not limited to, population density, proximity to shopping centers, and proximity to other businesses that are open on Sunday. The selected stores shall be open for retail business a minimum of five hours on Sunday. The board shall track gross sales and expenses of the selected stores and compare them to previous years' sales and projected sales and expenses before opening on Sunday. The board shall also examine the sales of state and contract liquor stores in proximity to those stores opened on Sundays to determine whether Sunday openings has reduced the sales of other state and contract liquor stores that are not open on Sundays. The board shall present this information to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the legislature by January 31, 2004.

Sec. 4   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. 5   RCW 66.08.060 and 1933 ex.s. c 62 s 43 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The board shall not advertise liquor in any form or through any medium whatsoever.
     (2) In-store liquor merchandising is not advertising for the purposes of this section.
     (3) The board shall have power to adopt any and all reasonable ((regulations)) rules as to the kind, character, and location of advertising of liquor.

Sec. 6   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.))

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   A new section is added to chapter 66.08 RCW to read as follows:
     In addition to the criteria stated in section 3 of this act, when choosing which stores to open on Sundays, the board shall follow the same criteria and procedures with respect to places of worship as established in RCW 66.24.010(9) for retail licensees.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   The sum of nine hundred sixty-one thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 2005, from the liquor revolving account to the liquor control board for the purposes of implementing this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   RCW 66.16.080 (Sunday closing) and 1988 c 101 s 1 & 1933 ex.s. c 62 s 11 are each repealed.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 11   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect July 1, 2003.