Senate Bill 5511 replaces RCW 66.04.010 with a revised set of definitions (including a new definition of "low-proof beverage" as a container 16 ounces or less with greater than 0.5% and less than 7% alcohol by volume) and proposes multiple amendments and additions to chapter 66.24 RCW and to RCW 82.08.150. The bill creates a new "spirits retail license" (to sell spirits in original containers for off‑premises consumption and to sell to retailers for resale), establishes eligibility and operational requirements for that license (including a general 10,000 square foot premise threshold with specified exceptions), requires SKU-level reporting by on‑sale spirits retailers, allows delivery to licensed premises or registered warehouses, and imposes a license issuance fee equal to 17% of spirits sales revenues (with a $166 annual renewal fee and required employee training). The bill amends spirits distributor licensing (RCW 66.24.055) by defining distributor scope, setting a distributor license fee structure (10% of monthly spirits sales revenue for the first 27 months, then 5% thereafter), a $1,320 annual renewal fee per location, security requirements, and a statement that the distributor issuance fees do not apply to sales of low‑proof beverages. It also amends RCW 82.08.150 to treat "spirits" as excluding low‑proof beverages and to set or adjust multiple percentage and per‑liter taxes on spirits sales, including rules that sellers must collect and report the taxes. The bill establishes a voluntary, free "responsible vendor program" for spirits retail licensees with minimum training, ID, policy, signage, and recordkeeping requirements; participants who maintain program requirements are exempt from a doubled penalty for a single violation within any 12‑calendar‑month period. The bill also creates a new tax of $2.50 per gallon on distribution and sale of low‑proof beverages, payable by spirits distributors and by distilleries/craft distilleries that self‑distribute or sell direct to consumers. Some provisions and context are incomplete in the provided extracts: the full text of several referenced amendments (including the new section to chapter 66.24 RCW), the complete regulatory language beginning at subsection (8)(a), the full definition of "soju," and the placement or purpose of a 50 milliliter sealed container reference are not shown here.

If enacted, the law creates a new product category called "low-proof beverages" (16 ounces or less and between 0.5% and 7% ABV) and treats them differently from spirits: they are subject to a new $2.50 per gallon tax collected by distributors or by distilleries that self-distribute or sell direct to consumers, and sales of low-proof beverages are exempt from some of the higher spirits-specific taxes and certain distributor/license fees. At the same time the measure establishes new spirits retail and distributor licensing rules—large-format stores generally must meet a 10,000-square-foot threshold, spirits retailers face a 17 percent license issuance fee on spirits sales (with craft distilleries and low-proof beverage sales exempt), distributors face a front-loaded percentage fee schedule (10% then 5%), and on-premises sellers must do SKU reporting and meet employee training requirements—plus a voluntary responsible vendor program that can limit penalty exposure for compliant retailers. The people and businesses most affected will be distillers and craft distilleries (who will be responsible for paying the low-proof beverage tax on certain sales but may avoid some higher spirits fees for those products), spirits distributors (new fee structure and tax collection responsibilities), and spirits retailers (new licensing costs, quarterly reporting, and training/recordkeeping duties). State revenue and the liquor revolving/general funds are likely to see new or shifted receipts from the low-proof tax and adjusted spirits taxes, but several important implementation details and cross-references are missing from the extracted text (including some regulatory provisions and how small sealed containers or other exemptions are handled), so exact fiscal impacts and operational rules remain uncertain.