Wolf offers $20M relief for bars and restaurants decimated by lockdowns
Pennsylvania plans to offer $20 million in relief to the state’s beleaguered hospitality industry, the governor announced Thursday, an amount trade groups called woefully inadequate for helping bars and restaurants survive the pandemic.
The state intends to waive liquor license fees in 2021 for more than 16,000 restaurants and bars, clubs, caterers and hotels, said Democratic Gov. TomWolf, who recently vetoed Republican legislation that would have loosened pandemic restrictions on the food and beverage sector.
“COVID continues to hurt this industry in a particularly awful way. They need our help now,” Wolf said at a news conference at LeMont, a venerated, upscale Pittsburgh restaurant.
The plan requires approval by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Industry groups re
acted coolly to Wolf’s proposal, saying it will barely make a dent in their members’ staggering financial losses.
John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, called Wolf’s offer an “olive branch” that won’t domuch to help.
“If the restaurant industry is the backbone ofPennsylvania’s economy,” Longstreet said in a written statement, “then our governor needs to understand our backs are broken.”
Bars and restaurants have been reeling from the pandemic and the state’s efforts to contain it. The Wolf administration has imposed occupancy limits and other rules, including a prohibition on bar seating and a requirement that alcohol be served with food, that state health officials say are necessary to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Pennsylvania, like many other states, is dealing with a fall resurgence of COVID-19.
Bar and restaurant owners have been fighting the restrictions for months, saying theWolf administration has no evidence they’re responsible for rising case numbers. Industry officials have warned that thousands of establishments are in danger of closing permanently without relief from the state.
Chuck Moran, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association, said in a written statement Thursday that “while licensing fee help is part of the solution, muchmore needs to be done” to help bars and restaurants stay afloat.
Last week, Wolf vetoed a Republican-sponsored bill that would have let restaurants and bars reopen at up to full capacity, saying itwould have increased the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks. Wolf has vetoed a series of GOP bills designed to eliminate or water down his pandemic restrictions.
Wolf said the virus forced his hand, but he stressed he remains committed to supporting bars and restaurants financially during the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen that even when owners, employees and patrons do everything right, the very nature of COVID continues tomake gathering in restaurants at full capacity really dangerous,” he said. “But that’s not the fault of the restaurant owners ... and therefore they should not be forced to bear the financial burden of this alone.”
Wolf has been pressing the General Assembly to approve a $100 million aid package for the hospitality industry, including restaurants and bars, and take other steps to provide relief. Themoney would come from Pennsylvania’s share of the federal coronavirus relief law, of which about $1 billion remains unspent.
House Republican spokesperson Jason Gottesman said legislative Republicans will be “examining the best uses of that money given our $4 billion budget deficit and themany areas of state and local government impacted by COVID-19.”
Gottesman called Wolf’s liquor fee plan a “halfmeasure of help,” saying the state’s hospitality industry is threatened by the governor’s “overbroad and onerous restrictions that are backed neither by science nor common sense.”
Republicans also circulated a June letter from Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board officials that said the board lacks authority to reduce statutory license fees and surcharges without legislative action.
Liquor board spokesperson Shawn Kelly said the board is “evaluating its authority towaive various categories of fees” andwill address Wolf’s proposal at its meeting next week after completing a fiscal and legal review.
Pennsylvania regulations empower the liquor board to charge fees, and, by implication, to refrain from charging them, said Wolf spokesperson Elizabeth Rementer.
She added the Republican-led General Assembly “has failed to provide meaningful relief for these licensees despite having every opportunity to do so.”