Top advocate gives up on Pa. liquor bill — for now

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Legislature’s leading advocate of privatizing liquor and wine sales in Pennsylvania gave up the fight today until lawmakers reconvene after their summer break, acknowledging that he lacks majority support in the House and does not want the issue to be a distraction from passage of a state budget.

“Right now, we can’t get it over the goal line,” House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said as he emerged from a closed-door budget meeting between Republican legislative leaders and GOP Gov. Tom Corbett.

An amendment sponsored by Turzai underwent three hours of floor debate last week — the first time since the current system was established in 1933 that the privatization debate had advanced so far, House officials said.

But House Speaker Sam Smith suspended the debate just as opponents sought to send the bill back to a committee that previously had gutted another privatization plan by Turzai.

Last July, Turzai introduced a bill that called for selling the 620 state-owned liquor and wine stories and auctioning off twice that number of licenses to private retail operators. The bill spawned strong opposition from the union that represents the thousands of state-store employees.