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Pa. House moves, again, to privatize liquor sales

HARRISBURG - Liquor privatization in Pennsylvania is an issue with an apparently long shelf life. With the new legislative session in full swing, the state House could vote as early as this week on a proposal to privatize the sale of wine and liquor.

LCB employee Larry Smith stocks shelves at the Franklin Mills outlet store. (File photo by Jonathan Wilson)
LCB employee Larry Smith stocks shelves at the Franklin Mills outlet store. (File photo by Jonathan Wilson)Read more

HARRISBURG - Liquor privatization in Pennsylvania is an issue with an apparently long shelf life.

With the new legislative session in full swing, the state House could vote as early as this week on a proposal to privatize the sale of wine and liquor.

The measure, near and dear to Republican Speaker Mike Turzai, was approved by a committee along party lines Monday and is expected to come up for a floor vote this week.

"We have a chance, in a historic way, to move outside of a failed system," said Rep. Chris Ross (R., Chester), who chairs the Liquor Control Committee.

The proposal is similar to one championed by Turzai, of Allegheny County, in the last session. It calls for selling the retail and wholesale operations of the Liquor Control Board and creating 1,200 licenses for stores to sell wine and liquor. Beer distributors would have the first chance to buy the licenses.

Grocery stores would be permitted to sell only wine. Several that also have licenses that allow them to sell up to two six-packs of beer would retain those licenses.

As in the previous proposal, some of the state-run wine and spirits stores would continue to operate for a time, most of them in rural areas where legislators fear there will be little interest in buying a license. But even those stores would have to eventually close if the number of private outlets in any given county was twice that of state-run stores.

The cost of the licenses would vary, depending on the population in the county where they were being sold. Supporters say the proposal could net the state more than $1 billion as it faces a budget shortfall twice that amount.

As in the past, Democrats who oppose the measure are expected to put up a fight.

On Monday, several complained that Republicans were ramming through a controversial proposal with no hearings. GOP legislators countered that the issue has been debated many times in the past.

After the bill passed, House Democratic leaders told reporters that with 50 new members in the chamber, the proposal should at least have had a hearing before being forwarded to the floor. They also said they feared that given the state's more than $2 billion budget deficit, the revenue brought in with license sales will be offset with a loss of sales taxes.

"Financially, this makes no sense right now," said Minority Whip Mike Hanna (D., Centre).

The Senate has been less than enthusiastic about a wholesale sell-off of the system, advocating for allowing consumers to buy wine and beer under one roof.

And though the Senate has trended more conservative since last year's election, its top Republican, President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson), has expressed concerns in the past about how far-flung, rural counties such as those he represents would fare, and what the long-term impact would be on the state's finances.

Gov. Wolf has said he would veto a privatization bill. The governor has said he supports modernizing the current system.