Substitute House Bill 2959 - UPDATE
UPDATE
Today, at about 11:15 am, Governor Gregoire signed SHB 2959 into law. All of the provisions of this bill become effective July 1, 2007. We again thank Arlen Harris, our lobbyist, Representative Alex Wood, and Senator Chris Marr for all of their hard work.
Don
April 16th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Nice! Is this the bill that has the stipulation that at least 50% of raw materials be “grown” in washington state? That was the only part of the new bill I didn’t agree with. How do they intend to enforce this? How would a potential distillery, say, make a rum or distilled rice-based beverage? It seems like it was counter to what the rest of the bill changes were seeking - a little deregulation.
On the whole, though, I think this is a good step forward.
d
April 16th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
It is. If a distillery wanted to make only a sugar cane or rice distillate they would do so under the current $2000 distillery license. This bill was meant to define activities in this state that are based upon our in-state agricultural resources, not every possible distilling activity. Without these (agricultural) provisions, the bill would have never passed. The state will regulate the activities of distilleries operating under this law via a monthly report and enforcement visits to the operations.
FYI, at Dry Fly, we proudly use 99.9% Washington grown raw ingredients.