Metzgar seeking step to privatize liquor sales in Pa

Jun. 8—SOMERSET, Pa. — A Somerset County lawmaker is spearheading the first step in a lengthy process aimed at amending the state's Constitution regarding liquor sales in Pennsylvania.

Privatizing alcohol sales in Pennsylvania has been a popular topic for years — but moving away from Pennsylvania's "full control" of the system has been blocked for decades, most recently by the Wolf Administration in 2016, he noted.

Wolf, at the time, worried it would result in higher prices for consumers — an argument that pro-privatization backers question.

State Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar, R-Somerset, said the current system — despite efforts to modernize it since 2016 — remains broken.

"In Pennsylvania the government is both the seller and the regulator of alcohol — this is an obvious conflict of interest," he said. "Only Pennsylvania and Utah practice full government control of the system and that system is broken. It is time to move forward, and this bill gives the voters the opportunity to make that happen.

"Consumers should not have to suffer high prices and poor availability because the government is doing what private enterprise would do better."

If legislation proposing the constitutional amendment passes, the question on whether liquor should be privatized could then be voted upon by Pennsylvanians.

To make it on an election ballot as a statewide referendum, the state House Liquor Control Committee's amendment will need to be passed in identical form in two consecutive legislative sessions.

It would then be placed on the ballot for voters. If it is adopted, the amendment would take effect in 18 months, he said.

Fellow state reps Jim Rigby, R-Ferndale, and Jesse Topper, R-Bedford, are also committee members and voted alongside Metzgar in the 14-10 majority to advance the plan.