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A customer reaches for a bottle of wine at Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection store in McCandless.
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Pa. bill to let supermarkets, restaurants sell wine heads to governor

Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette

Pa. bill to let supermarkets, restaurants sell wine heads to governor

HARRISBURG — This fall, for the first time, Pennsylvanians might be able to buy a bottle of Chardonnay in the same store that they buy their Thanksgiving turkey.

With an unexpected 157-31 vote Tuesday, the House approved a bill that would allow restaurants, hotels and hundreds of grocery and convenience stores to sell up to four bottles of wine to go, and also allow wine producers to ship cases directly to a consumer’s home.

The measure had been approved by the Senate late last year but languished untouched for nearly six months. The House leader’s office had laid out its plans for this week’s legislative session without mentioning the bill.

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The vote presents Gov. Tom Wolf with a high-stakes decision.

The push by House Republicans to disband the state business in wine and liquor sales became entangled in last year’s budget impasse, and the Democratic governor at one point agreed to sign it, but only as part of a larger deal that then fell apart. He now faces the wine bill by itself, as the deadline for this year’s budget approaches without visible progress between Republican leaders and the governor.

The governor’s office released a statement in which Mr. Wolf called the bill headed to his desk “historic liquor modernization legislation that provides greater customer convenience to the people of Pennsylvania.” But he did not say whether he will sign it, and his spokesman declined to discuss the governor’s thinking.

“Once the bill reaches my desk, I will conduct a final review of the legislation to ensure it meets my goals of enhancing the customer experience, increasing much-needed revenue to help balance our budget, and bringing our wine and spirits system into the 21st century,” Mr. Wolf said.

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Businesses that would be affected by the changes are watching. The Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association urged the governor to sign the bill, and the Distilled Spirits Council warned that moving only wine into grocery stores would hurt distillers.

House Republicans estimated the legislation would generate an additional $149 million for the state in the coming fiscal year. Wine would still be available in state stores.

More than 300 Pennsylvania grocery and convenience stores are licensed to sell beer, according to a spokeswoman for the Liquor Control Board, and these stores would be able to purchase permits allowing them to sell wine. A House Republican spokesman, Steve Miskin, said wine would be in grocery stores by Thanksgiving.

Consumers also would be able to order wine directly to their homes from any wine producer willing to be licensed by the state. Wine could be purchased through direct shipment only for personal use.

House Speaker Mike Turzai, who has championed ending the state business in alcohol, said that although Republican members want to push for changes to the state’s wholesale system for wine and liquor sales, such demands would not be part of negotiations over the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

“Part of the reason that we ran it this week was to make it clear that this is a separate bill that needed to be evaluated on its own merits,” Mr. Turzai said. “We think that the budget moves together in a very positive fashion when it’s about the budget, and it’s about expenditures and revenues.”

Legislative Democrats have resisted efforts to end the state system of alcohol sales, though they have supported efforts to improve service at the state stores. House Democrats on Tuesday gave much more support to the bill — more than half of them voted in favor — than their Senate colleagues had in December.

Karen Langley: klangley@post-gazette.com.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that only wine producers would be allowed to ship directly. A previous version was incorrect.

First Published: June 7, 2016, 5:35 p.m.
Updated: June 8, 2016, 3:04 a.m.

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A customer reaches for a bottle of wine at Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection store in McCandless.  (Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette)
Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette
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