Legislative Victory: Liquor Tax Hike Stopped with Your Help

Congratulations.  By joining together through WRA, you stopped the liquor tax hike.

WRA recently posted an “Action Alert” on our home page requesting that you ask your lawmakers to vote “No” on the liquor tax hike.  Many of you responded by sending emails to your state legislators or calling them.  Well over 200 contacts were made in just a few short days.

The Result:
Senate Bill 66 (SB-66), a bill that increases penalties on repeat drunk drivers, was pulled from the agenda of the powerful Joint Committee on Finance on the very day it was scheduled for a vote.  State Senate leaders could not get the votes they needed to pass the bill through that committee with the liquor tax included, so it was pulled back to be reworked.

Senate leaders recently announced at a press conference that changes are being made to SB-66 to reduce associated costs of the bill, and to fund it with increased fines on offenders rather than a tax increase.  This is precisely what we have advocated for.  The victory was possible because so many of you took just a few minutes to contact your lawmakers with a phone call or an email from the Legislative Action Center on the WRA website.

This is the latest in a long line of policy victories for WRA in the State Capitol this year.  Political victories like this only happen when our members and friends participate.  If more WRA members and their employees and friends take action when they see these alerts, there will be many more victories in our future.

Thank you for taking a stand for your industry!