03/11/08 Roosevelt drawdown clears legislature; craft distilleries

Washington Ag March 11, 2008 Legislation cleared the state legislature Monday that will implement the agreement among affected parties to facilitate the Lake Roosevelt drawdown to bring some Columbia River water to the declining Odessa aquifer. The state Senate concurred in an amendment made by the House and Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 6874 now goes to the governor. There is money included in the state operating budget to facilitate the drawdown. Another measure on its way to the governor contains the first significant change in Washington law concerning distilleries since Prohibition. The Senate passed House Bill 2959, which reduces the annual licensing fee from two-thousand dollars a year to 100 dollars for craft distilleries, those producing no more than 20-thousand gallons of spirits a year. Senator Chris Marr sponsored the Senate version after being contacted by the state's lone micro-distillery, located in Spokane. Marr: "The bill requires that at least half the ingredients be from Washington grown raw materials. So wheat, potatoes, grain products, but also for that matter hops, apples or other things that might be used in the process. So it is a win or Washington agriculture." Marr believes the measure will help Washington compete with neighboring states that have already passed similar legislation. I'm Bob Hoff.