Utah privatize liquor sales?
Updated: 5/29/2012 7:29 pm | Published: 5/29/2012 7:06 pm
UTAH (ABC 4 News) - Eight states around the country are in the liquor business, but as of June 1 Washington State will no longer be one of them.
It's giving up control Friday. State stores are closing and liquor prices are expected to drop. This has a lot of Utahns asking the question if it could happen here.
Closing state liquor stores in Utah would be very hard.
Utah's tight control on booze earns the state $91 million a year; $29 million goes to the school lunch program and the other $62 million goes to the State's general fund.
The money comes from the pockets of people like Dave Lpaktchian. He's the vice president of operations for Iggy's nine sports bars in Utah.
He must get in line at the state run stores to buy his booze and he must pay the same price.
ABC 4's Noah Bond asked him if he thinks Utah will ever privatize liquor sales. He said, "No way only because the amount of money the state makes."
What's more, a Park City woman who wants to order her favorite wine from a small producer in California can't because it's illegal in Utah.
Conservative lawmakers fear teens could get booze this way. "I would like to see it be made legal for me to be able to order wine from these wineries," said Sara Pfrommer.
Conservative lawmakers keep tight control of the laws because they say they don't want the "social degradation that comes from privatizing alcohol."
Copyright 2012 Newport Television LLC All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
