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The Northwest Grocery Association will not seek to privatize liquor sales next year.
That decision comes at a time when the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission is perhaps more vulnerable to privatization than it has been in its 90-year history after a spate of bad press; but it also comes at a time when the two biggest grocery chains in the country, Kroger and Albertson’s, both NWGA members, are in the middle of a controversial merger that has generated strong opposition from labor and regulators.
“Due to the changing business market for our grocery members, today we have decided not to pursue a ballot measure in 2024,” NWGA president and CEO Amanda Dalton tells WW.
Dalton says the decision came after lengthy deliberations.
“[We] spent a lot of time this summer considering a ballot measure,” Dalton says. “We believe that voters in 2024 are more ready than ever to privatize the sale of liquor to Oregonians. Consumer convenience and the fact that local, family-owned stores and chain grocers have safely sold beer and wine for over 80 years led voters to demand these products on grocery store shelves.”
The NWGA has repeatedly moved toward privatizing liquor sales since 2011, when a campaign largely funded by Costco privatized liquor sales in Washington. Under Dalton’s predecessor, Joe Gilliam, the NWGA tried twice and failed to qualify for the ballot. In 2022, the grocers filed petitions and spent more than $500,000 on another effort but did not move forward after receiving ballot titles.
A flood of negative press for the OLCC seemed to make the agency vulnerable in 2024. The agency spent heavily on a controversial new warehouse, and six top OLCC managers, including longtime director Steve Marks, lost their jobs amid an ethics probe into diversion of rare bourbon. In addition, the still-unfolding scandal involving La Mota, one of the state’s largest cannabis companies, called into question the agency’s regulatory oversight.
All of that seemed to tee up another privatization push for the grocers, as Dalton acknowledges. “We have all seen the real risks and opportunity for self-serving deals that benefit a selected few with a government-run monopoly on liquor sales,” she says.
But Dalton says challenges remain: The mechanism for converting what is now a state markup to a tax is complicated.
“Our previous draft ballot titles still show the tax issue is a significant hurdle,” Dalton says.
In addition, stiff opposition from opponents of privatization, who include beer and wine distributors and public employee unions, means the campaign would cost at least $10 million.
Dalton makes it clear, however, that her members have not given up the prospect of stocking their store shelves with liquor.
“We will continue to watch the outcome of open OLCC investigations, pending allegations and market access for our customers,” she says, “and hopefully be in a position to bring a ballot measure or legislative option in the near future.”