State House Passes Bill That Would Privatize Liquor Sales in Pa.
By Tony Romeo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - For the second time in two years, the state House is sending senate legislation to privatize liquor sales in Pennsylvania.
After hours of debate, the House passed virtually the same liquor privatization bill it approved back in 2013. Bucks County House Republican Gene Digirolamo pointed out that bill failed in the Senate during the last two-year legislative session:
"They had almost 21 months to consider that bill."
But House Majority Leader Dave Reed, an Indiana County Republican, says there's a new majority leader in the Senate:
"You've got a different leadership in the Senate, you've got a different dynamic, we have different budget situation."
But the spokeswoman for the Senate majority leader says only that the Senate is "committed to a complete review" of the House bill.
Governor Wolf says he favors modernizing liquor sales. So why continue to push privatization when the governor opposes that?
"Because we're not convinced when all the issues are on the table that he will be opposed to privatization," says House Speaker Mike Turzai, an Allegheny County Republican.
By that, Turzai was referring to issues related to the upcoming budget process. But before the bill gets to the governor, it has to get through the Senate, which did not act on privatization in the last two-year legislation session despite Republican control of the chamber.