Civilization, ho!

Angela Couloumbis, of the Harrisburg bureau of The Philadelphia Inquirer, has an article about the future of the infamous State Stores:

This week will be the first test of whether the legislature can finally reach consensus on a plan to privatize the sale of wine and hard liquor in Pennsylvania.
The House Liquor Control Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing soon to consider Governor Corbett's privatization plan, which calls for auctioning off the state's six-hundred-plus wine and spirits shops to the private sector. Proceeds from the sale, estimated at about a billion dollars, would be given to public schools through an initiative to help them pay for early-childhood education and school security, among other things.
If it passes muster in committee, the bill would then be sent to the House floor for debate. Majority Leader Mike Turzai, a Republican from Allegheny, privatization's most vocal supporter in the legislature, has vowed to bring the measure to a full floor vote by the end of the month. That would be the farthest a liquor-privatization bill has moved through the legislature. "This is really over the goal line," Turzai told reporters recently. "People recognize that Pennsylvania needs a change."
But, as Turzai and Corbett know well, the road toward privatization is pocked with pitfalls from both ends of the political spectrum. Democrats and the union representing State Store clerks have historically opposed it, arguing that it would cost the state much-needed revenue— the Liquor Control Board kicks in about eight million dollars in profits annually to the state general fund— and thousands of workers good-paying jobs. And a number of conservative Republicans believe the state should continue strict controls over alcohol sales.
But the hearing will feature no debate. There will be no witnesses to provide testimony, just committee members asking questions and voting on the measure. Republicans who control the House said the reason for that format is that privatization has been exhaustively debated for years, and that there is no reason to do so again.
Still, Corbett's privatization proposal is different from ones floated in the past. And it is expected to be amended in committee with even more changes.
House Republicans said their amendment would allow for the basics of Corbett's plan: letting supermarkets and convenience stores sell alcohol. But it would also scale back Corbett's aggressive approach to privatization.
The amendment calls for twelve hundred wine and spirits licenses, and would allow state beer retailers first crack at them. After that, other retailers, such as grocery stores, could apply for licenses.
But the amendment would not immediately shut down the State Stores. According to information provided by House Republicans, their plan would try to phase them out over time, and might not achieve that in certain counties. For instance, under the GOP plan, all State Stores in a county would have to close only if there were twice as many privately owned wine and spirits stores plus grocery stores in that county as there were State Stores.
It is a complicated formula, but House Republicans said they believed they had the votes for it. "Our goal is to move this," Turzai said. "I can tell you that our caucus is very engaged in the discussion, and there is significant support for moving Pennsylvania forward."

Rico says that this is so long overdue, he can't imagine why they're still dragging their feet...