Independent State Store Union: Liquor Privatization Legislation is a Reckless Proposal
House Plan is Bad Public Policy, Bad Fiscal Policy and Bad for Consumers
HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Citing continuing reports on the failed liquor privatization efforts in the state of Washington, the Independent State Store Union (ISSU) called today's House committee action on liquor privatization in Pennsylvania bad public policy, bad fiscal policy and bad for consumers.
The bill in question, House Bill 466, was passed today along a party line vote – without the benefit of public hearings – by the Republican controlled House Liquor Control Committee. The bill would place the sale of wine and liquor in the hands of private, for-profit entities. The legislation will be "fast-tracked" for passage and will likely be considered by the full House as early as Thursday, February 26th.
"Over the last four years, the intense efforts to eliminate the current publicly-owned and revenue-generating system have failed primarily because liquor privatization is a bad idea. One only has to look to the failed experiment in Washington State for evidence that liquor privatization does not produce the promised results of better prices, improved convenience and better selection," said Mike Troyan, ISSU President.
According to Troyan, recent media reports reveal that since privatization, Washington State has the highest liquor prices in the nation and many small, privately-owned liquor stores have been failing as a result.
In one report, and in a very candid assessment of the liquor privatization initiative in Washington State, Sharon Foster, the outgoing head of Washington's Liquor Control Board said, "I think it's the dumbest thing we ever did in our state." Two years after liquor was privatized in Washington, the report found that liquor prices in Washington are the highest in the nation.
Yet another report pointed out that while consumers thought they were going to get more selection at a cheaper price, privatization has not translated into more competition and lower prices. Indeed, in some cases, it has been the opposite.
To further illustrate the situation in Washington State, Troyan quoted David LeClaire, a wine retailer in Seattle, who stated, "I think what they are finding is they have less selection in more places and they now have to go even farther out of their way to find selection. For spirits, we're the highest state in the nation as far as our taxes go, and that puts most of our prices as the highest in the nation."
Also noted in the report was that at the time the state stores were shuttered in Washington, there were 328 locations but retail stores increased almost fivefold by the end of 2014. One industry insider quipped, "All of the sudden, you didn't have to buy liquor at the state liquor stores, you could buy it on every corner."
Troyan noted that despite repeated claims that Pennsylvanians want privatization, truly independent polling (F&M College Poll, January 2014) indicates that an overwhelming majority – 62% – favor keeping the state-owned stores and improving their operations, while only 33% favored selling them to private interests.
"Pennsylvanians understand that liquor privatization is a dumb idea. They know that liquor privatization is simply a veiled attempt to transfer the annual revenue generated by this publicly-owned asset from the public treasury to the private bank accounts of well-heeled, special interests – at the expense of the taxpayers and consumers," Troyan declared.
"It is time for the legislature to focus their efforts on public policy initiatives that will have a lasting positive effect on all the working men and women of this Commonwealth – not the selfish attempts by a limited few to enrich themselves at the public expense," he suggested.
"If we don't learn from the mistakes of others, we are bound to repeat them. If privatization profiteers are successful, Pennsylvanians will be repeating the words, 'I think it's the dumbest thing we ever did in our state,' Troyan concluded.
The links listed below served as a source for the information provide in this release:
SOURCE Independent State Store Union
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