Constitutional Amendment to Eliminate Pa. Liquor Store Monopoly Is on the Rocks

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store with red sign
Image via Ian Turton at Creative Commons.
The purchase of spirits at Pa. liquor stores may be changing.

A plan to eliminate Pa.’s state-run liquor store monopoly through a constitutional amendment has presently hit a snag. Its future is uncertain, even before the issue has even appeared put on a ballot. Tom MacDonald, WHYY, distilled the reasons behind its current inactivity.

Republican State Rep. Natalie Mihalek is preparing a constitutional amendment that would privatize the state’s liquor system, one of two remaining in the country.

State Senators Anthony Williams and Tina Tartaglione, both Democrats, oppose the idea. They visited a liquor store in Philadelphia last week to speak against the plan, joined by members of the union that represents around 5,000 liquor store employees statewide.

Senator Williams said he plans to fight the proposal that could put thousands of people with good jobs that have benefits and pensions out of work. He also questioned the rationale of a sales model that brought in more than $800 million in profits to the state in the past fiscal year.

“There’s not one single department or unit of government that has such a prosperous return on investment. Not one,” said Williams.

Meanwhile, Mihalek said her proposal aims to let Pennsylvanians decide what is best for them.

Read more about the proposal at WHYY.

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