Washington voters approved by 60/40 (in initial returns anyway but it was enough for the local news to call the results) I-1183. This was the second time in as many years we've had a ballot initiative to privatize the liquor business in the state. Currently distilled spirits can only be sold in state run or contracted stores. Selection sucks, prices are a lot higher than in other states, the stores are a pain to find, and are run by .gov union employees that really don't care (most of the ones I've seen anyway).
I'm hoping this will mean a better selection of single malt Scotches in the future.
A few things I definitely did not like about it though. It restricts liquor retailers to stores >10,000sf (not all has to be liquor related - e.g. grocery stores with overall sf over 10k count). This was to combat the complaints last time around that mini-marts and gas stations would be selling liquor. Mind you they already sell beer and wine.
Another thing I don't like is the licensing fees and tax rate on the liquor. They're going to charge 27% of gross revs on liquor sales, and the license fees are quite high (don't remember the exact number right now). Also if there aren't enough retailers that sign up to total something like $150mil in license fees in something like 3 years the ones that did sign up will have to cough up the difference.
Overall though I still think it's an improvement over the state monolpy on liquor sales.
