WSR 25-09-169

PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY

LIQUOR AND CANNABIS

BOARD

[Filed April 23, 2025, 10:57 a.m.]

Subject of Possible Rule Making: WAC 314-02-045. The Washington state liquor and cannabis board (LCB) is considering amending WAC 314-02-045 and any other sections of Title 314 WAC as may be necessary to reduce the amount of time a beer and/or wine restaurant licensee must be open to the public to maintain their license.

Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: RCW 66.08.030.

Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: In December 2024, LCB accepted a petition for rule making from a member of the public requesting to amend WAC 314-02-045 to reduce the required number of days per week a beer and/or wine restaurant license must be open to the public to maintain their license. Currently, WAC 314-02-025 (2)(b) requires these licensees be open to the public at least five hours per day, three days per week.

A number of beer and wine restaurant licensees experience wide seasonal variations in the number of customers they serve throughout the year due seasonal fluctuations in the number of visitors to their area. Reducing the current requirement that a licensee must be open for business for at least three days per week would be beneficial to small businesses and would give these licensees more control of their business hours to save resources during slower seasons of the year.

Process for Developing New Rule: Collaborative rule making.

Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Jeff Kildahl, Policy and Rules Coordinator, P.O. Box 43080, Olympia, WA 98504, phone 360-480-7960, fax 360-704-5027, email rules@lcb.wa.gov, website lcb.wa.gov.

Additional comments: Interested persons can participate in the rule process through open public meetings and by submitting written comments, and are encouraged to sign up for the interested parties list (GovDelivery) at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WALCB/subscriber/new. Rule-making notices and stakeholder engagement opportunities will be emailed via GovDelivery and posted to the LCB website at lcb.wa.gov.

April 23, 2025

Jim Vollendroff, Chair