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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 1, 2021 11:30 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Frank Burns |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Protecting Small Businesses by Suspending Zombie Liquor License Auctions |
| Restaurants and bars face daunting challenges every day – a fact made even more evident during the pandemic as restaurants bore the brunt of virus mitigation closures. After 14 months, these establishments are finally fully reopening. We as policymakers must ensure that state government isn’t further hindering the ability for these small business owners to decide what’s best for them, be that to rebuild their operations post-pandemic or sell their liquor license if they so choose. Act 39 of 2016 allowed the state Liquor Control Board to resurrect old restaurant liquor licenses and auction them to the highest bidder. These so-called “zombie licenses” were given new life by the auctions, but pumping them back into the marketplace is accelerating the death of independent restaurants across the Commonwealth. The auctions put the LCB in direct competition with restaurant licensees who want to sell their license but who are continually undercut by the LCB’s auctions. With a $25,000 minimum auction bid, the owner of the corner tavern who banked on his liquor license as his retirement now has an asset whose value diminishes every day. That’s why I’m introducing legislation that would suspend the zombie license auctions until the formation of the Wine and Spirits Wholesale and Retail Privatization Commission and the publication of its study. Act 39 required the formation of this commission and tasked it with studying the supply and demand of liquor licenses in each county and the effectiveness of the auctions. Five years later, we’ve had no commission, no report and no evaluation of the liquor licensing system. Please join me in sponsoring this legislation to suspend the auctions and protect the mom-and-pop businesses that have been the cornerstones of our communities for decades. |