Wyn Delano
WMAL.com

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — (WMAL) The ability to sell hard liquor in Montgomery County has been in the exclusive purview of the county government since the 1950’s, much to the chagrin of liquor distributors and free-market enthusiasts in Maryland’s most populous county.

A recent bill unanimously approved by the general assembly, however, may be the first step towards changing that.

Currently, the Department of Liquor Control (DLC) operates 28 stores throughout the region.

The bill will allow, starting July 1st for the county to contract out hard liquor sales to “Agency” stores – private businesses that already possess some form of alcohol licence to currently sell wine or beer.

But, according to Director of the DLC Robert Dorfman, customers won’t see any of these stores until 2018 at the earliest:

“Our position on [the bill] is that, although it goes into effect July 1st, there’s a lot of sensitivities to how these contracts are granted,” he said in a hearing with the Montgomery County Council.

This overabundance of caution may be a reaction to some of the hard lessons learned from the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission’s licensing roll out that became the subject of several lawsuits on the basis of alleged discrimination.

Although Dorfman hopes that this change will allow them to “run [the DLC] like a business,” all signs point to this being about access, not necessarily competition.

In fact, Dorfman explicitly stated during the hearing that he would not give out contracts to “agency” stores that would provide competition with the state-run outlets.

And even in terms of access, residents ought to expect a cautious and slow expansion: “The only thing we want to ensure is that we don’t end up with liquor stores on every corner in this county. I don’t think that would be to the benefit of the county,” Dorfman warned.

Yet, in a department that Dorfman admits has a “defensive nature with its customers and the media,” this seems to be a welcome first step for those who feel that Montgomery County should be more in line with the rest of the state in its distribution of alcohol.

But, this new law by no means seems to have the teeth to dismantle the government hegemony on liquor sales in the county.

And that is, according to Dorfman, the real value of this plan:

“[We need to start] proving that it’s a world-class business that has the county as an added value in its business proposition.”

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