Bill Gives License To Clark House

The Clark House on Hayden Lake could get a special liquor license, under legislation proposed Monday.

Rep. Gordon Crow persuaded the Senate State Affairs Committee to introduce the bill. But at least one member of the committee was concerned about the measure’s wording.

Idaho doesn’t allow special legislation that’s designed to benefit just one establishment. So lawmakers write bills that say they apply to any establishment that meets a particular description - and just make the description very narrow.

Crow listed any food, beverage and/or lodging facility with at least five rooms, in a building at least 75 years old that’s been on the historic register at least 10 years, is within 500 yards of a natural lake of at least 36,000 acre-feet of water when full with at least 32 miles of shoreline, in a county with a population of at least 65,000.

Sen. Mary Lou Reed, D-Coeur d’Alene, who serves on the committee, told her fellow lawmakers that the restored Clark House is “truly a treasure.”

, DataTimes