House Bill 1717, Modernization of the ABC System is on the House calendar next Tuesday, June 22 while a similar bill, Senate Bill 1112 will be heard in the Senate Judiciary II Committee next Tuesday as well.

Many of the concerns addressed in the bill such as caps on salaries, location of stores, accepting gifts, conflicts of interest, discharging employees, performance standards, performance reports and audits, travel reimbursements, nepotism, obedience to a central board, requiring a balanced budget, and strong-arming appointments would be eliminated if only the ABC system were privatized.  Stores would be located where they would be profitable, a competitive market would dictate employee salaries and the free market, not corruption, would determine success and failure in the liquor business.  If a supplier wanted to take the owner of a store out to dinner, well, who cares?  If they really want to “modernize” the system, legislative leaders should consider privatizing the system.

My colleague, Jon Sanders, presents some interesting arguments on privatization of the ABC system well worth consideration here.