The Pennsylvania State Senate on a straight party-line vote, passed what could become a major reform of how beer, wine and liquor is sold in Pennsylvania, giving new life to one of Gov. Tom Corbett's major campaign pledges.

A Pennsylvania liquor store in Harrisburg.File photos/DAN GLEITER, The Patriot-News, 2008

The 27-23 vote - cast at 1:20 a.m. Saturday - would start to back Pennsylvania out of the retail wine and liquor business, and sets the stage for a lease of its wholesale monopoly if it is determined that it would not harm the state financially.

Beer distributors would be able to become one-stop shops for all forms of alcohol; beer and wine could be sold from restaurants and supermarkets with in-store cafes, and take-out beer could be sold from some convenience stores without eat-in areas.

Proponents said it will allow existing businesses to expand, promote competition and convenience for consumers while allowing the state to recenter its focus on enforcement of alcohol laws.

The Senate voted on an amendment to the liquor bill, but the vote sets the stage for a final passage vote in the Senate later in the weekend. And it offers at least a chance - given House approval - that the bill could be sent to Corbett's desk this summer.

Democrats called the bill a slap in the face to state store workers, a threat to existing beer distributors who could lose more market share in beer than they gain in spirits, and a dangerous loosening of controls on access to alcohol.

They also condemned Republicans' for dropping early goals to sell state store franchises to raise $1 billion for public schools. "We focused so much on booze, that we forgot about the schools," argued Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-Chester County.

The new bill, Dinniman suggested, will raise only a fraction of that amount in new revenues for the state.

But Republican supporters countered that they were simply answering a long-ignored call for greater convenience and access.

"We are on the verge of making improvements to our system that the consumers have wanted for decades," said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County.

The bill will call for state-owned liquor stores to be closed in any given county once at least two times as many beer distributors have obtained enhanced licenses that would permit them to sell hard liquor.

It provides for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to lease its existing wholesale franchise on wine and spirits to private managers if it determined that the proposed deal would increase annual revenue to the state.

Democratic senators railed against the expansion of alcohol sales to convenience stores. State Sen. Vince Hughes, a Philadelphia Democrat, said the extra outlets for liquor sales would only add another challenge to distressed neighborhoods.

State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-Chester, criticized the late hour of the debate, which didn't start until after midnight. He recalled the infamous July 2005 on a legislative pay raise, which occurred at 2 a.m., just before lawmakers began a summer recess. The Senate suspended its typical 11 p.m. curfew to take up the amendment.

Other details of the amendment:

Consumers could buy three six-packs of beer - or a six-pack and a 12-pack - at superrmarkets. Currently, the limit is a 12-pack or two six-packs.

Small breweries could qualify for a tax credit that expired years ago.

Brewers could sell beer at farmers' markets.

Read the full text of the Senate Republican-backed amendment below: