It gave Sunday-worshiping faiths that 'day of rest' from work, but no legally mandated day of rest for faiths that worshiped on other days.

The media commentary also argued that the law trampled on the constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state. The prosecution of the car dealer for Sunday sales had generated critical comment in the media about its hypocritical violation of the concept of equal application and protection of the law. In February 1966, the newly elected leaders of the Young Democrats of Washington State (State YD) were looking for a campaign issue that would attract Democratic voters to the polls in that year's congressional, state legislative, and county elections. The initial impetus for that campaign was not altogether altruistic. These and other related issues came together in 1966 to create the most successful initiative election campaign in state history to that time.

Police in Buckley cited news reporters for violating the law by being present and reporting on the staging of an illegal Sunday purchase of otherwise lawful goods, by Blue Law crusading attorney Alva C. A rather bizarre incident occurred in March 1966. In September 1965, Ned Van Duyne, a used-car dealer in Mount Vernon, Washington, was arrested and successfully prosecuted for selling cars on Sunday rather than going along with the 'gentlemen's agreement' among the other local dealers to be closed. However, sporadic, isolated prosecutions occurred. The headline of a Seattle Daily Times front-page article on Saturday, June 5, 1909, summed up the story: 'Exposition To Be Open Part of Tomorrow: Management Yields to Almost Unanimous Demand From Public That Sunday Closing Rule Be Not Enforced.' In addition, the basic operation of the exposition itself arguably transgressed the law's prohibition against 'any noisy or boisterous sport or amusement' on Sunday. Although the A-Y-P did not sell any alcoholic beverages on its grounds, some of its concessions sold goods such as mementos. Because it took effect on March 22, 1909, the new law immediately ensnared the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, which was supposed to operate seven days a week from June to October of that year. Thousands of businesses continued to operate on Sunday, flaunting the Blue Law.

That board adopted regulations that included a specific prohibition on the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverage on Sunday, and the requirement that already-sold drinks be picked up at midnight on Saturday night. It established a comprehensive structure for state regulation of the sale of liquor and created a three-member state Liquor Control Board. However, people also viewed it as being 'progressive' legislation that prohibited most employers from requiring their employees to work seven days a week, in an era before workers had the protection of state labor regulations and labor union collective bargaining agreements.įollowing the repeal of nationwide prohibition of alcoholic beverages, the Washington Legislature adopted the 'Steele Act' (R.C.W. Religious motivations played a major role in its adoption. The law was commonly called the 'Blue Law,' and was a very broad expansion of an 1881 law that only prohibited 'fighting or offering to fight, horse-racing or dancing' on Sunday. In 1909, the Washington Legislature passed the 'Sabbath Breaking' law (Chapter 249, Section 242, Laws of 1909), which prohibited most businesses from operating on Sunday.

In addition, at midnight on Saturday nights restaurants and bars picked up their patrons' alcoholic drinks and shooed the customers out the door. In Washington in 1966, it was a crime to sell most kinds of goods and perform most types of services on Sundays. It also ultimately led to the sale of liquor on Sunday in the state. This action legalized the operations of thousands of businesses in the state that had been opening on Sunday in violation of that law, and eliminated the legal bias favoring religions whose day of worship was Sunday. On November 8, 1966, Washington state voters adopted Initiative 229, repealing the so-called 'Blue Law,' which had been enacted in 1909.

Utalk liquor laws sundays