It could soon be easier to get issued a liquor license in the state of Idaho. According to KTVB, a new bill has been introduced in the Idaho State Legislature yesterday that could potentially "shorten or even eliminate those wait times."

As it currently stands, the law in Idaho states that one liquor license can be issued for every 1,500 residents in a city, a quota system. The new bill, spearheaded by Senator Jim Rice of Caldwell, would allow cities and counties to issue these much-desired licenses to restaurants and hotels.

Senator Rice tells KTVB that this new law could have a positive economic effect on the state.

We have a real barrier to some economic development that we would otherwise get because liquor licenses aren’t available.

So how would this benefit all those owners who waited years to get theirs? They would 1) be grandfathered into the new system, 2) would get a discount of 10 percent on liquor purchases, while new licenses would pay retail.

There are some opponents to this bill. According to KTVB, some restaurant owners feel this would devalue their liquor license because they would (in the current system) be able to sell their licenses to new business owners.

To become law, the bill will still need to "go through a hearing, then a committee vote and then onto the Senate and the House" for final approval. Let's say it does pass all those hurdles, and becomes law, it wouldn't go into effect until January 1, 2020.

 

 

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