Regulation

Regulation

A Privatization Conversation

• March 27, 2013

Today we held our second Google Hangout broadcast and discussed the latest on liquor store privatization, including: What happened last week in the House, how social media activism was used…

Media

Regulation

Summary of House Bill 790 as Passed by State House

• March 26, 2013

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed HB 790 on March 21, 2013. This legislation would allow private retailers to sell wine and spirits and end the state government monopoly over…

Memo

Regulation

Pennsylvania State Budget 2013

• March 26, 2013

Governor Corbett's proposed budget of $28.4 billion in general fund spending and $67.6 billion in spending from all funds represents our highest spending levels ever—exceeding years when federal stimulus dollars…

Fact Sheet

Regulation

Liquor Privatization Benefits Beer Distributors

• Nathan Benefield
• March 25, 2013

In the Bucks County Intelligencer, Sen. Chuck McIlhinney suggests that the liquor privization bill that passed the House last week doesn’t do enough for beer distributors. In contrast,…

Media

Regulation

Dispelling the Myths About Alcohol Privatization

• March 22, 2013

The friends of government-run liquor stores have to resort to such tactics as they have neither public opinion nor facts on their side. Here are just a few of the…

Commentary

Regulation

Liquor Liberty Victory!

• Matthew Brouillette
• March 22, 2013

Last night, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives made history, and we were a part of it! Yesterday marked the first time a vote for liquor store privatization was held, let alone…

Media

Regulation

Historic Vote Huge Step to Liquor Liberty

• March 21, 2013

Members of the House of Representatives made a historic vote today by passing HB 790, a vote to end the state government’s Prohibition-era liquor system in Pennsylvania. Commonwealth Foundation…

Media

Regulation

Who Supports Liquor Liberty?

• Nathan Benefield
• March 21, 2013

Today the Pennsylvania House is poised to pass landmark legislation (H.B. 790) to privatize the 80-year-old state store system and end the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s (PLCB) inefficient and antiquated…

Media

Regulation

Mailbag: Booze Q’s

• Matthew Brouillette, Nathan Benefield
• March 20, 2013

As legislation to get government out of the booze business is debated in the state House, CF‘s mailbox is overflowing with questions about liquor liberty! You asked, we answered: Q:…

Media

Regulation

What’s in New Liquor Liberty Bill?

• March 18, 2013

Rep. Mike Turzai’s liquor store privatization bill, HB 790, heads to the House floor after successfully passing amended out of committee today. While the amendment changed the bill significantly, it…

Media

Regulation

The Sun Rises on Liquor Liberty

• Matthew Brouillette
• March 18, 2013

It wasn’t a typical Monday morning for me or the dozen citizen-patriots and CF team members that stood together in an empty hallway, outside a hearing room in the Capitol…

Media

Regulation

Temper Tantrums Taint Liquor Debate

• March 15, 2013

My four-year old niece likes to get her own way. When things going south—she has to take a nap, or worse, Dora the Explorer is over—no matter how much you…

Media

Regulation

Privatization Could End “Pay-to-Play”

• Priya Brannick
• March 15, 2013

“A culture of greed, corruption and political influence that is beyond imagination,” is how State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan described the latest Pennsylvania Turnpike scandal, which has led to…

Media

Regulation

PLCB Liquor Store Union Boss Bullies Business Leaders

• March 14, 2013

Media

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Goliath, Drunk on Power—and On the Move!

• Matthew Brouillette
• March 13, 2013

What does a Middle Eastern battlefield from biblical times have to do with where you buy your booze? Actually, quite a lot. At the Commonwealth Foundation, we call the government…

Media

Regulation

Mow the Lawn…TODAY!

• Matthew Brouillette
• March 12, 2013

When it comes to privatizing the Pennsylvania’s government-run monopoly of wine and spirits, many politicians say they are in favor of it—including House Liquor Committee Chairman John Taylor (R-Philadelphia). But…

Media

Regulation

Desperate Times, Desperate Claims

• Nathan Benefield
• March 8, 2013

UFCW President Wendell Young is so desperate to retain Pennsylvania’s 80-year old government liquor monopoly that he’ll say anything. Most recently, he claimed “privateers” were hacking an online poll…

Media

Regulation

Remove Politics from Pensions

• Nathan Benefield
• March 6, 2013

A letter to the editor I sent to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette takes on some of the myths and facts of pension reform: Nina Esposito-Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh…

Media

Regulation

Liquor Chair Wants to Hear from “Stakeholders”

• Matthew Brouillette
• March 5, 2013

Last night, Capitolwire.com reported (subscription required) that the chairman of the House Liquor Control Committee, Rep. John Taylor, has proposed an amendment to the Governor’s liquor store privatization plan. …

Media

Regulation

PLCB Contradictions Continue

• March 5, 2013

Should the government have its own wine brand? Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board member Robert Marcus thinks so, telling lawmakers, “We have the legal ability to do it. We did…

Media

Regulation

We Deserve Better than ‘Watery Beer’

• March 4, 2013

Despite broad, bipartisan support to end Pennsylvania’s arcane monopoly on booze, legislators and special interests are saying “modernization” is good enough for Pennsylvania consumers. Make no mistake: “modernization” keeps government…

Media