For the Reporter

Sen. Pam Roach’s effort to protect children by banning powdered-alcohol products has passed the legislative houses and is awaiting the governor’s signature to become law.

“Some products pose so much risk to our children that we must prohibit them from ever being for sale in our state. Powdered alcohol is one of those products,” said Roach, R-rural Auburn.

Powdered alcohol is a new product that binds alcohol with a starch to form the powder; the alcohol is then released when the powder is mixed with water. Children are particularly in danger from the substance, which is impossible to detect when added to liquid.

Because its inventor anticipates sales beginning in summer, Roach made sure Senate Bill 5292 included a so-called “emergency clause” that allows the new law to take effect immediately when it is signed. That will ensure the ban is in place long before summer, she explained.

“The goal was to enact a law that will protect our children as much as possible. So often the Legislature must react to a tragedy; this time we are able to be proactive. I appreciate the fact that this bill has received such overwhelming support from the Legislature,” said Roach, who serves on the Senate Law and Justice Committee and is Senate president pro tempore.

The new law will make selling, possessing or using powdered alcohol a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. It makes one exception: for the use of powdered alcohol for legitimate research purposes.

“But importantly,” said Roach, “we will not see powdered alcohol on the grocery-store shelves.

“Powdered alcohol will get into Washington through nefarious means but under this new law it will be harder to obtain and illegal to possess.”

Although she favored a ban from the start, Roach introduced SB 5292 to regulate and tax powdered alcohol in the same way the state regulates and taxes liquor. After that bill passed 48-0 in the Senate, Roach secured support from Gov. Jay Inslee’s office and the state Liquor Control Board for an outright ban, as called for in another bill she had introduced – Senate Bill 6082.

Roach arranged for the SB 6082 language banning powdered alcohol to be added to SB 5292 before the House passed the measure 91-6 Monday. The Senate agreed with the change today by a 45-0 vote, completing the Legislature’s work on SB 5292.