Senator Wants To Relax Beer-Selling Laws In PA
By: Tom Barnes | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG — As the sound of Revolutionary War fifes and drums echoed through Capitol hallways Tuesday, supermarkets and convenience stores launched a new attempt at one of the most difficult legislative feats — liberalizing Pennsylvania’s beer-selling laws.
A crowd of about 150 people, many from the Sheetz store chain, held signs calling for a “Beer Revolution” in Pennsylvania, with others reading “I Drink and I Vote,” “Free My Beer” and “Get Your Hands Off My 6 Pack.”
State Sen. John Rafferty, R-Montgomery, joined by the Pennsylvania Convenience Store Council and the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, backed a new bill that they said would “make sweeping and historic changes to the way beer is sold in Pennsylvania.”
Specifically, it would allow a six-pack, a 12-pack or a case of beer to be sold, for the first time, at convenience stores and groceries. Currently, most beer is sold by state-licensed beer distributors, and only by the case or keg; under the new bill, they also would be able to sell one or two six-packs.
It also would strengthen efforts to make sure beer isn’t sold to underage youths. It would require “carding,” or the showing of valid ID, by everyone buying beer, regardless of how old they look. The system would use “electronic age-verification machines to ensure that minors are not buying alcohol illegally.”
Sheetz owner Stan Sheetz said his chain sells beer at its stores in five other states and wants to do so in Pennsylvania. His general counsel, Michael Cortez, urged scrapping “outdated beer laws” and giving consumers “what they’ve wanted for years — the ability to buy beer in convenience stores and supermarkets.” Backers have created a website, www.sixpacktogo.org.