When successful Idaho restaurateur Kevin Settles looked for a place to open a fourth Bardenay restaurant and distillery, he looked to Colorado, not Idaho, the Idaho Business Review reports, because of Idaho’s pricey and prohibitive liquor license laws. “I would like to operate in a state that doesn’t have a state control system,” said Bardenay owner Kevin Settles. That system means a liquor license in Boise is now going for about $175,000, he said. The Business Review reports that Boise now has 145 issued licenses and 61 names on its waiting list; the top name on the list has been on the waiting list since 1999.

“I have three licenses in three areas and even then it isn’t a stable investment,” Settles said. “There is always the chance you lose it to a violation and then who knows when you will get another.”

The situation’s even tighter in Idaho’s small destination towns, reports IBR reporter Benton Alexander Smith. In McCall, the name at the top of the list for the next liquor license has been on the waiting list since 1979. “Idaho needs to redo its liquor license laws,” said Pam Eaton, executive director of the Lodging and Restaurant Association. “They are awful.”

Gov. Butch Otter proposed a revamp of Idaho’s liquor license system in 2009; it passed the Senate, but failed in the House.  The proposal hasn’t been back since.

Both Settles, a board member of the National Restaurant Association, and Eaton told the Business Review they have talked to business owners who wouldn’t consider moving to Idaho because of the law. “This is a gigantic problem crimping economic growth,” Eaton said. “It’s huge, but I don’t think anybody has the appetite to bring it up.” Smith’s full report is online here.