Committee co-chair: Start over on liquor bill
The legislative committee reviewing plans to renegotiate the state's wholesale liquor distribution contract hopes to nix two competing measures and start anew on the issue that has struck a sharp partisan divide.
The Portland Press Herald reported that committee members voiced preference for crafting a new bill to outline how the state would renegotiate the lucrative liquor contract now held by Maine Beverage Co. that expires in 2014.
The paper reported that Sen. John Tuttle, co-chairman of the Legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, and other committee members expressed most interest in crafting a new bill. Earlier this year, Gov. Paul LePage proposed tying a renegotiation of the liquor contract to leverage a revenue bond that would pay back $186 million in debt to the state's hospitals. Senate Majority Leader Seth Goodall, D-Richmond, responded to that proposal earlier this month with a bill that would require upfront payment from the winning bidder to pay the state's hospital debt.
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