HARRISBURG, Pa. – Once again, Pennsylvania Republican senate leaders will push to overturn state control of liquor sales, the Herald-Standard reports. One measure would allow supermarkets, convenience stores and other retailers sell beer and wine, but keep spirits in state-run liquor stores.

“We want to have a seamless experience for the residents, to be able go to Wegmans and buy wine and beer,” said state Sen. Chuck McIlhinney Jr. Along with Sens. Dominic Pileggi and Joe Scarnati, McIlhinney developed the proposal they hope to introduce when the session reconvenes next week. “But that doesn’t mean we have to close and disrupt the whole system all at once. After 80 years of having it one way, we can kind of smooth into this.”

The “wine-only” bill would gradually privatize the wholesale and retail operations, giving the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board greater say in pricing and adding hours to retail stores. “It’s not a situation where we have the ability to do an immediate divestiture of retail and wholesale operations to sell wine and spirits,” said Pileggi, the Senate majority leader. “The votes aren’t there for that dramatic of a change in a very quick timeframe.”

This measure has significant changes from a dead House proposal, plus it’s light years away from Gov. Tom Corbett’s bill that would have shuttered liquor stores and moved all alcohol sales into private hands at once. Right now, McIlhinney expressed his optimism that his bill would see success, but he also pointed out that the plan could alter further as talks continue. One specific change would repeal a rule outlawing the sale of alcohol near gasoline sales. Leaders from the House and Senate all agreed that the Legislature would likely pass some thing on liquor reform before the July 1 budget deadline.