Follow Up on HB 1415 – Beer at the Gift Shop

Our friends over at the Pickled Liver (NW Beer Guide) reported this morning that HB 1415 just passed without being amended to include the sale of Washington craft beer. This bill allows the Legislative Gift Shop in Olympia to proudly display and sell Washington wine without any consideration at all for Washington beer. We originally reported on HB 1415 here.

All they had to do was amend the bill to say “and beer.” Apparently, that was too much to ask.

HB 1415 was introduced by Rep. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle. We have it on good authority that –when confronted about the bill’s exclusion of beer– Hasegawa suggested that he was unaware of Washington’s reputation as one of the nation’s leading craft beer producers. Uh, HELLO!

Hey Bob, we also grow apples and build airplanes, in case you haven’t heard.

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It’s a symbolic thing, for sure. Nobody is going to make or loose a fortune because of what is or is not sold at the gift shop. Still, this is a slap in the face and is emblematic of a larger problem. It is just one more example of the lack of respect that our elected officials have for an industry that is responsible for thousands of jobs and millions of tax dollars.

Here’s a report on how the votes went. (thanks to the Pickled Liver!)

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Yeas: 44 Nays: 2 Absent: 1 Excused: 2

Voting Yea: Senators Becker, Benton, Brandland, Brown, Carrell, Delvin, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Haugen, Hewitt, Hobbs, Holmquist, Honeyford, Jarrett, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, King, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Parlette, Pflug, Prentice, Pridemore, Ranker, Regala, Rockefeller, Schoesler, Sheldon, Shin, Stevens, Swecker, Tom, and Zarelli

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Voting Nay: Senators McCaslin and Roach
Absent: Senator Jacobsen
Excused: Senators Berkey and Morton

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