INQUIRER: Let’s have a toast: To superfluousness, which the Pennsylvania legislature embodies; to the nanny state, which it perpetuates; and to Prohibition, which it suspects wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Hear, hear!
The occasion for this celebration is a new bill amending state regulations governing happy hours. No, that’s not the half-price well whiskey talking: The state really does have regulations governing happy hours – or, for those wondering how a government lawyer would define them, “the period of time during which a licensee discounts alcoholic beverages.”…
The state Liquor Control Board currently limits happy hours to no more than two hours a day, and none after midnight. (A single daily drink special may also be offered without invoking the ruthless happy-hour enforcement apparatus.) Responding to pleas from bar and restaurant lobbyists, State Rep. John Payne (R., Dauphin) came up with legislation to change the limit to 14 hours a week, with no daily restriction. That is, the weekly maximum would remain the same, but the state’s taverns would be free to allocate the hours within the week as they see fit… (more)
