liquor bottles

A proposal being discussed by leaders of the state Senate to allow wine and beer to be sold in grocery and convenience stores could be on Gov. Tom Corbett's desk next month, said House Majority Whip Stan Saylor, R-Red Lion.

For more than a year, the realpolitik of the liquor privatization debate in Pennsylvania has gone like this:

The Republican-controlled House wanted, and would accept, nothing less than a move to get the state out of both the retail and wholesale booze business. Meanwhile, the narrative went, the Republican-controlled Senate wanted a smaller package, something that would open up beer and wine sales while allowing the Liquor Control Board to make changes like expanding hours.

Maybe that could be changing.

When legislators return to Harrisburg next week, the Senate is expected to consider a bill that would allow grocery and convenience stores to sell limited amounts of beer and wine.

"Our goal is to give consumers what they want, better access and selection," said Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson.

The conversation, he added, is "clearly teed up for next week."

Earlier this week, Sen. Chuck McIlhinney Jr., R-Bucks, told Calkins Media he was "optimistic" that that plan for wine and beer could move forward.

Thursday, a member of the House leadership agreed with the assessment.

"Before we get too far through May, I think we'll pass something through to the governor's desk for liquor," said House Majority Whip Stan Saylor, R-Red Lion.

That something, Saylor said, will most likely be a version of the so-called "wine only" plan Senate leaders are discussing.

To get to Gov. Tom Corbett's desk, privatization advocates -- including Saylor -- in the House would have to back away from the bill they passed last year to phase out the state stores and embrace a proposal that deals with the already privatized beer market.

It could happen, Saylor said, adding that he wants to get onto other issues, like pension reform.

"We want the whole thing, but you take what you can get," Saylor said. "It's a step, and if we need to come back next session and take another step, that's what we do."

Steve Miskin, the spokesman for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, is not so sure, noting that "the House has spoken" in passing a privatization bill last year.

"I don't think anybody would be able to guarantee 102 votes until we see what will come out of the Senate," Miskin said.

Many in the House GOP caucus would need to see steps toward creating a private marketplace for wine and liquor sales before getting on board, Miskin said.

When asked about the possibility of a beer and wine bill sprinting through the Capitol in the next few weeks before the state budget debate takes over, Mark Tanczos, president of the Malt Beverage Distributors Association of PA, said that sort of move has been a concern since the House passed its privatization bill last year.

"We've been in the market for 80 years," Tanzos said. "I hope they respect that we've been playing by their rules and give us a chance to comment on something before they run it."

This comes a week after a coalition of private businesses floated a proposal to let beer, wine and liquor be sold in any store that qualifies for a license. In making their pitch, the coalition members warned lawmakers against passing a watered down privatization plan just to say they did something.

The distributors and members of that coalition are not the only ones that would want to thwart a proposal like the one being discussed by Senate leaders.

Pure privatization advocates would oppose it. So would most of the Democrats in both chambers, who would prefer to see the LCB modernized to bring in more revenue. So would the union representing state store workers. The liquor companies and their distributors don't want to see gin and whiskey ghettoized as the only alcohol that is only sold in state stores.

Then there are the dollars and cents.

The state has budget holes it needs to fill. A plan focused on modernizing the LCB could claim to pump more money directly into the state's coffers. A privatization plan would have the carrot of selling off the state's liquor wholesale business, which has been estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The financial implications of the Senate's "consumer convenience" proposal are not yet clear. In the past, staunch privatization backers and supporters of the status quo have both complained that a half measure would only bleed the LCB dry while ruining its value for a future sale.

But those are the details we could learn as soon as next week.

-- PennLive editorial page editor John Micek contributed the quotes from Scarnati.