Friday, February 17, 2012

Will state allow more liquor licenses in valley?

Proposed bill could provide permits for resort hotels

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By KATHERINE WUTZ
Express Staff Writer

Bartender Trista Ballou serves a drink at the Duchin Room at Sun Valley Resort. Photo by David N. Seelig

A bill requested by a Ketchum hotel that would make it easier for resort city inns to obtain liquor licenses is making its way through the Legislature, but lawmakers say its chances of passage are likely slim.

The bill, drafted by Boise attorney Bill Roden at the request of the Knob Hill Inn in Ketchum, would allow any resort city inn with at least 15 rooms, a full-service restaurant and meeting facilities to apply for a license to sell liquor by the glass.

Currently, the number of liquor licenses issued is limited by the population of a city. According to Idaho code, one license to sell liquor by the glass can be issued in a town per each 1,500 residents.

Resorts, golf courses, convention centers, airports, inns over 75 years old and rodeo grounds are exempted based on certain criteria. Licenses are transferable among locations and owners.

The license proposed by Roden, however, would remain with the inn in perpetuity.

"This license, under this bill, has to stay with the Knob Hill Inn," he said. "It couldn't be transferred to someone else on Main Street."

The owners of the Knob Hill Inn could not be reached for comment on why they specifically asked Roden to draft and lobby for the bill.

Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, said the bill could help the Knob Hill Inn and others like it.

"It would make the Knob Hill, for instance, competitive and help meet the customer service needs of their guests," she said in an email.

Roden said the bill could include other resort city inns apart from the Knob Hill, but which inns could take advantage is unclear.

"I did draft the legislation so it could qualify in different little cities," he said, but the cities in which the applicant inns are located must charge a local option tax.

That tax, sometimes called a "booze and bed" tax, was pushed through the Legislature by former Ketchum Mayor Jerry Seiffert and Rep. Steve Antone, R-Rupert, in 1979. Ketchum's LOT includes a 2 percent tax for liquor and lodging.

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Even though McCall has inns with at least 15 rooms, Jaquet said they would not qualify.

"McCall doesn't charge the booze tax," she said. "Riggins and Victor don't have inns, [and] the Stanley Hotel doesn't have enough rooms."

Even if the city does charge those taxes, any inn that meets the qualifications would not automatically receive a license. Inns would need to apply to the city council and mayor for a license approval.

"Local conditions vary around the state," Roden said. "It's still up to the mayor and the city to do as they see fit."

Despite that safeguard and protection of local control, Jaquet said she wasn't sure the bill would get a hearing in the House State Affairs Committee, where it's resting now and has been since Feb. 6.

Jaquet said she asked committee Chair Thomas Loertscher, R-Iona, if the bill would be heard before the session adjourns, but he was "noncommittal" about a hearing date. Jaquet said the issue is complicated by the possibility of the session's early adjournment after budgets are completed on March 9.

Even if the bill is heard, Jaquet said, Gov. Butch Otter has said he will veto all alcohol license bills that reach his desk.

"The current license situation is something we need to address," she said. "I think the governor's office wants to do it next year, possibly in a non-election year."

Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com

Other state news

A bill that would prevent texting while driving made its way to a second hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday. The bill, introduced in the Senate on Feb. 1, would prevent drivers from manually texting while operating a vehicle. The bill exempts police or emergency-service providers. The bill must be read one more time in committee before being voted on and making its way to the House.

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