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On Monday, the House Liquor Control Committee voted 15 to 10 to move Republican-backed House Bill 466, privatizing its retail and wholesale operations, to the House floor without hearing.
According to Republican leadership, amendments to the bill originally anticipated to be offered on Wednesday “had all been withdrawn.”
In its previous legislative session, a similar bill was approved by the House, but failed in the Senate.
“At the end of the day, liquor is an enterprise of the private sector,” said Rep. Chris Ross, R-Chester, the committee chairman. “We don’t have state grocery stores. We don’t have state gas stations.”
Ross said the state of Pennsylvania, which has a mandate to oversee the appropriate use of alcohol by its residents, should not also be in the business of marketing it.
“Passage of the bill will give our state the opportunity to better monitor use of alcohol, including underage drinking,” said Ross, “its really is all about the safety of residents.”
Ross said privatization would also improve the convenience of state consumers, with privately-owned liquor stores likely to be more consumer friendly, removing Sunday sales limitations and ensuring competitive pricing.
“The $1.1 billion that will be saved through the sale of licenses in the next few years can serve to address budgetary shortfalls,” said Ross, “the bill makes good sense in the short and long term.”
If passed, the bill would give beer distributors the opportunity to buy 12,000 licenses for private liquor stores before opening up the sale of those licenses to other entities.
Supermarkets would be granted licenses to sell wine within the parameters of the legislation.
“For example,” said Ross, “each customer would be allowed to purchase only 12 bottles of wine at a time.”
Local views
House Democrats said the bill does not make fiscal sense in the long term and puts state workers at a disadvantage.
Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, said Wednesday, “this bill does not do the things its purported to do. The $1.1 billion it may save in the next few years will be offset by the over $1.4 billion spent during the transition to the private sector.”
“Further, what’s the rush?” said Pashinski, “Hearings would provide opportunity for discussion by members on both side of the aisle.”
“We’re considering terminating a system that provides the state with over $200 million pure net profit a year and employs 4,000 Pennsylvania residents,” he said, “don’t we want to weigh all our options?”
Pashinski said the bill’s passage would mean more workers on the state’s unemployment rolls, which would result in an added burden on the state.
He said although adamantly against privatization, he was not against modernization of the present system, including Sunday liquor sales and extended store hours.
State Rep. Aaron Kaufer, R-Kingston said Tuesday although he had considered voting against the bill, he was “going through it with a fine-tooth comb,” to bet a better understanding of what it would mean for his constituents.”
“$1.1 billion is a lot of money to collect in the next few years,” said Kaufer, “but, we have a long term responsibility to those who voted for us.”
The bill is anticipated to hit the House floor during the next week, and then will be sent to the Republican-controlled Senate that is likely to approve it.
Wolf has said publicly that if passed, he would veto the legislation.
Times Leader reporter Steve Mocarsky contributed to this report.
Reach Geri Gibbons at 570-991-6117 or on Twitter @TLNews