The political slant of the Stranger is wild. I mean, just say you want to enjoy a beer while getting a lap dance. This bit about revenue streams and employee safety doesn’t track, but is true Seattle “I am the wonkiest!”

“Another factor to consider is some legislators, especially in the House, feel the state has become far too lenient around alcohol overall, Saldaña added.”

To quote the State’s (infamous) tourism tag line, “Say WA?”

Instead of booze they should have asked to legalize meth and fentanyl in the clubs, maybe make it a safe shooting space and then they would have had full support of the legislature.

I don't get the peal clutching, adult beverages and adult entertainment pair well together.

The advocates on this issue are a bit unrealistic in their expectations of the Legislature.

Bills can be filed at the beginning of December before the Legislature convenes, but their bill wasn’t filed until the end of January - that’s eight weeks when they should have already had their proposal in front of legislators.

Besides, it’s virtually unheard of for legislation of any complexity to pass in the first year it’s introduced - and a booze-and-stripper bill certainly qualifies.

So let me get this straight: in this state you can have a glass of wine/beer at a sports event AROUND KIDS, at a hair salon, again, AROUND kids, or even at one of those hipster ax-throwing places. But in a club for adults only? Nope, the government knows best!

It’s literally legal in every other state, why can’t Washington grow up?

@2 and @8 The problem for dancers (and strip club staff) is that since customers can't buy adult beverages in the club, they drink somewhere nearby and then come to the club already inebriated. So the club gets all the problems related to overconsumption and none of the revenue. And as the article points out, no alcohol means the dancers themselves have to provide all the club's revenue/profit, and predatory management practices naturally stem from that. "Addressing those issues" will require permitting alcohol sales to take some of the financial pressure off the dancers. There's just no other way to do it (unless you favor outlawing strip clubs entirely, in which case you ought to be honest and state that outright).

It's explained in the article! Clubs charge dancers a fee if they leave the stage early, which is what they do if there is a problem customer. Currently, dancers need to pay $ to the clubs to protect themselves.
I would guess that they didn't just outlaw the fees because then the owners would have lobbied against the bill, making it more difficult to get passed.
The attitude of conservative commentators to strippers is disappointing but predictable; their small-mindedness fits with their lack of reading ability.

@1 This isn't "Stranger slant"; this is a bill created by dancer advocates to address very real issues in their industry. Legalizing alcohol is a piece of it; house fee caps & safety protections (funded through revenue from new alcohol licensing) is the other critical piece. They're experts who have worked in the industry & studied the issue for years, not random commenters.

@6 You know how the legislature works, so you also know bills don't get filed based on when advocates wish they would. Regardless, no one expects a controversial bill to get through in a single session, and that's not what happened here. This bill continues on the groundwork laid in a 2019 bill which created basic safety protections and an L&I workgroup to recommend future legislation. L&I made their report to the legislature in 2020, and the recommendations were drafted as policy & stakeholdered in 2021. This is years in the making - and would have moved this year, given that it passed the Senate floor with broad bipartisan support & the House labor committee, except that an additional committee insisted on hearing it with no intention of... hearing it. This is not a "legislation is slow" problem, this is a "certain legislators wanted to stop a widely supported policy" problem.

@1 This isn't "Stranger slant"; this is a bill created by dancer advocates to address very real issues in their industry. Legalizing alcohol is a piece of it; house fee caps & safety protections (funded through revenue from new alcohol licensing) is the other critical piece. They're experts who have worked in the industry & studied the issue for years, not random commenters.

@6 You know how the legislature works, so you also know bills don't get filed based on when advocates wish they would. Regardless, no one expects a controversial bill to get through in a single session, and that's not what happened here. This bill continues on the groundwork laid in a 2019 bill which created basic safety protections and an L&I workgroup to recommend future legislation. L&I made their report to the legislature in 2020, and the recommendations were drafted as policy & stakeholdered in 2021. This is years in the making - and would have moved this year, given that it passed the Senate floor with broad bipartisan support & the House labor committee, except that an additional committee insisted on hearing it with no intention of... hearing it. This is not a "legislation is slow" problem, this is a "certain legislators wanted to stop a widely supported policy" problem.

@8: "If the goal was really to stop "predatory practices" from the strip club owners,"

I suspect that the booze sales was a sweetener to keep club operators from fighting the dancer safety provisions. In a perfect world, everyone would be happy with a beer and a nearly naked woman sitting in their lap. But memories of the police responses needed at the (long defunct) Good Time Charlies topless bar probably persist.

I've been to clubs around Portland. I don't drink, so it's just for the dances. And most of the performers just look at me like I'm some sort of pervert, not buying a few rounds of booze first. I suspected that there was pressure from the club operators to have the dancers move the liquor. Several clubs in Washington have attempted to mimic the Oregon operations by pressuring customers to buy "ladies drinks". Just soda pop, but at up to $20 a glass. Dancers I knew would try to skip the sales pitch, but they'd get called in to the manager's office for a little talking-to. So the pressure will still be there unless strict safety and operating regulations are put in place.

The people behind this bill filed it super-late and now they want to blame the legislature? As does the Stranger, apparently? Because the bill was filed late - 3 full weeks after the start of the session - this committee only had 6 days to schedule public hearings and meet with stakeholders before the legislative cutoff. Those dates are written in stone every year before the session ever starts.

And this is somehow these two Democrats’ fault?? Cripes.

Yes this issue should be addressed. If they were serious about it, the people behind it would have pre-filed in December like the serious people do for their issues. Cripes. Try again next year, and do it on time !

And Stranger: do none of you know how to read a legislative calendar? Way to misdirect the public with a slanted headline. Pshh.

@14: Close, but most dancers really are on board with alcohol sales. It's not just a sweetener for clubs - it's what makes the rest of the policy possible. In every other state in the US, the way clubs make their $ is through liquor sales. That leaves dancers free to profit off dances, paying house fees around $20 per shift. Here in WA, there's no liquor, which means dancers themselves are the commodity - they pay house fees up to $200 per shift, seriously cutting into their earnings & meaning they can go home in the hole.

Both pieces really matter - if you just added alcohol licensing, you couldn't trust that clubs would let the profits 'trickle down' to dancers. But the bill would legalize alcohol sales and put a cap on the house fees that clubs charge dancers (in addition to other safety protections). Adding that revenue stream is what makes lowering house fees & funding safety protections possible.

Most dancers also agree that working in states where alcohol is legal feels safer, because it makes the club a social environment with lots of different types of customers, rather than a purely sex-based business.

@16: "Most dancers also agree that working in states where alcohol is legal feels safer, because it makes the club a social environment with lots of different types of customers, rather than a purely sex-based business."

Those dancers would rather be cocktail waitresses. And that's fine. Because if I want a good lap dance, I want someone that's happy with their work. Not one that's trying to give her client a good case of whiskey dick before the lap dance starts.