Legislation that passed the state Senate Thursday was not a sweeping rewrite of the state’s outdated liquor laws. It’s not even a foot in the door to privatization.
If this weak measure becomes law, elected officials may crow that they’ve fixed the embarrassment that is Pennsylvania’s outdated monopoly. Not so. This bill would maintain the Liquor Control Board’s stranglehold on the wholesale and retail distribution of wine and spirits. Consumers would still be forced to make trips to multiple stores for alcohol when planning a party.
Until Thursday, Democrats were the real roadblocks to getting Pennsylvania government out of selling alcohol. Republicans took over that role when 27 members of the GOP voted for this lame version, created by party leaders in the Senate as part of a larger budget framework worked out with Gov. Tom Wolf. Only two Democrats voted yes — Jay Costa of Forest Hills and Andrew Dinniman of Chester County.
If the Republican-controlled House goes along, this bill would:
• Allow restaurants and grocery stores that currently sell beer to also sell up to four bottles of wine per customer. State stores, which would continue to offer wine, would remain the only place where customers could purchase whiskey, vodka, gin, liqueurs and other spirits. Nothing would change for beer distributors.
• Remove most restrictions on the hours, holidays and Sunday operations of state stores. It also would allow wineries to ship directly to consumers.
• Casinos would be able to sell alcohol 24 hours a day, provided they buy new, $1 million licenses.
Then there is a host of oddities aimed at appeasing various special interest groups. Bed and breakfasts could provide one bottle of wine to guests when they check in. Breweries would be able to participate in farmers’ markets. Hotels and restaurants could start selling alcohol at 7 a.m. on Groundhog Day.
The fact that state law addresses the hours when alcohol can be sold on a faux holiday honoring a rodent is the very definition of absurd — an adjective that fits the entire bill.
The Senate has diluted any movement toward free enterprise. House members should reject it because Pennsylvania deserves true reform.
First Published: December 11, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
