Category: PLCB

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A Teachable Moment in the PLCB Debate

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, PLCB

Those of us who have been parents or teachers often talk about “teachable moments.” Teachable moments occur when something problematic happens from which we can learn some important lesson. The bills being considered today to privatize the operations of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) give us teachable moments — moments that might help people understand why we cannot simply privatize the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board without the state losing $300-400 million per year in General Fund Revenues. HB 991 would create new franchise liquor stores for every 6,000 residents in a county with a minimum of 15 per county. That would create as many as 2,000 new liquor stores — far more than the 601 state stores already in place. The bill has a provision that is quite peculiar, but ultimately very revealing: it requires the PLCB to sell wine and spirit products to franchise stores for the same price… Continue reading

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The Emperor’s New Liquor Stores

  By Pennsylvania, PLCB

Originally published at Third and State, June 28, 2016 Act 39 flew through the House of Representatives and was signed by Governor Wolf too fast for us, and many others, to object. If we’d had a chance, we would have pointed out, as the IFO did soon after passage, that the estimates of new revenue from expanding wine and beer sales was way too high. And we would have added that much of the $106 million that the IFO expects will be generated by Act 39 is a one-time deal. Projections of additional sales of wine and beer at the new locations have to be weighed against the loss of sales at Wine and Spirit shops and beer distributors. And now, just weeks later, liquor privatizers are at again, loading up a bill to expand alcohol sales at the Democratic National Convention — as was done for the Republicans in… Continue reading