Spokane Chapter

Call to Action: We need your voice!

Washington’s proposal to lower the legal BAC limit from 0.08% to 0.05% (SB 5067) is expected to return next legislative session.

While the proposal may not change existing civil liability standards, it creates real concerns for licensed businesses. At 0.05%, impairment may be difficult to recognize, even for trained staff. This raises concerns about liability exposure, insurance costs, and the ability of restaurants, bars, and hotels to operate responsibly.

Your voice matters. We need to make sure legislators and candidates understand how this proposal could affect our businesses, employees, and communities.

Please reach out to your elected officials and the candidates running to represent your district. We need to get this information in front of them early, before legislation reaches the floor for a vote and opportunities to raise concerns become more limited.

Need to find a candidate’s email or confirm your district?

• Use the official Washington State VoteWA candidate list to look up candidate contact information.
• Use the official Washington Legislature District Finder to identify your district using your business address.
• For questions about contacting current legislators, you can also call the Washington Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000.

Share this with your entire team

We are asking every restaurant, bar, and hotel owner or manager to pass this message along to all bar managers, bartenders, servers, and other front-line hospitality employees.

Their voices matter just as much as ours. These are the people working directly with guests every day, making responsible alcohol-service decisions and seeing firsthand how these policies affect our industry.

If YOU are a bartender, server, or bar manager and have questions, want to share your experience, or need help contacting your legislators or candidates, please reach out to Derek Baziotis at DerekB@wahospitality.org.

Find your legislative district and use the resources below to connect with your elected officials and candidates. Share how the proposed BAC limit change could affect your business, employees and community.