Pennsylvania liquor store privatization plan to get vote next week

The plan would shut down the existing 620-store system and sell or auction 1,600 new licenses for wine and liquor stores.

A plan to privatize Pennsylvania's state-controlled liquor store system and liberalize beer sales laws is being scheduled for a vote early next week.

A spokesman for the House of Representatives' Republican floor leader said today the plan would shut down the existing 620-store system and sell or auction 1,600 new licenses for wine and liquor stores.

House Majority Leader Mike Turzai's plan would give the state's retail beer distributors the right to buy a license. Others would be auctioned, and it would limit the number of stores one licensee could own.

It also would change beer sales laws to allow distributors, grocery stores and taverns to sell in wider varieties, from six-packs to cases of 24 bottles or cans.

An earlier plan of Turzai's was defeated by a House committee.