Section 2-207 - General powers of boardUnder this act, the board shall have the power and its duty shall be:
(a) To buy, import or have in its possession for sale and sell liquor, alcohol, corkscrews, wine and liquor accessories, trade publications, gift cards, gift certificates, wine- or liquor-scented candles and wine glasses in the manner set forth in this act: Provided, however, That all purchases shall be made subject to the approval of the State Treasurer, or his designated deputy. The board shall buy liquor and alcohol at the lowest price and in the greatest variety reasonably obtainable.(b) The following shall apply: (1) To control the manufacture, possession, sale, consumption, importation, use, storage, transportation and delivery of liquor, alcohol and malt or brewed beverages in accordance with the provisions of this act, and to fix the wholesale and retail prices at which liquors and alcohol shall be sold at Pennsylvania liquor stores. (2) Except as provided in paragraphs (3) and (4), prices shall be proportional with prices paid by the board to its suppliers and may include a handling fee. This proportional pricing provision shall not apply to special liquor orders authorized under section 305(a).(3) The board may price its best-selling items and limited purchase items in a manner that maximizes the return on the sale of those items.(4) THe board may discount the price of discontinued items.(5) All prices of a particular product identification number shall be uniform throughout the Commonwealth. The board may establish a preferential price structure for wines produced within this Commonwealth for the promotion of such wines, as long as the price structure is uniform within each class of wine purchased by the board.(6) On a quarterly basis the board shall publish a listing of the wholesale and Pennsylvania Liquor Store retail prices on its publicly accessible Internet website.(7) No later than April 1st of each year the board shall submit an annual written report to the Law and Justice Committee of the Senate and the Liquor Control Committee of the House of Representatives. The report shall contain information related to the method and rationale for pricing products.(8) No later than June 1st of each year, the board shall appear before the Law and Justice Committee of the Senate and the Liquor Control Committee of the House of Representatives to provide testimony in relation to its annual written report under paragraph (7).(9) The board shall require each Pennsylvania manufacturer and each nonresident manufacturer of liquors, other than wine, selling such liquors to the board, which are not manufactured in this Commonwealth, to make application for and be granted a permit by the board before such liquors not manufactured in this Commonwealth shall be purchased from such manufacturer. Each such manufacturer shall pay for such permit a fee which, in the case of a manufacturer of this Commonwealth, shall be equal to that required to be paid, if any, by a manufacturer or wholesaler of the state, territory or country of origin of the liquors, for selling liquors manufactured in Pennsylvania, and in the case of a nonresident manufacturer, shall be equal to that required to be paid, if any, in such state, territory or country by Pennsylvania manufacturers doing business in such state, territory or country. In the event that any such manufacturer shall, in the opinion of the board, sell or attempt to sell liquors to the board through another person for the purpose of evading this provision relating to permits, the board shall require such person, before purchasing liquors from him or it, to take out a permit and pay the same fee as hereinbefore required to be paid by such manufacturer. All permit fees so collected shall be paid into the State Stores Fund. The board shall not purchase any alcohol or liquor fermented, distilled, rectified, compounded or bottled in any state, territory or country, the laws of which result in prohibiting the importation therein of alcohol or liquor, fermented, distilled, rectified, compounded or bottled in Pennsylvania. The board may not sell private label products. A Pennsylvania liquor store may continue to sell private label products within its inventory after the effective date of this section until the private label products within its current inventory are depleted.(10) The proportional pricing under paragraph (2) shall not apply to special liquor orders authorized under section 305(a).(11) As used in this subsection, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this paragraph: "Best-selling items" shall mean the one hundred fifty (150) most sold product identification numbers of wine and the one hundred fifty (150) most sold product identification numbers of liquor as measured by the total number of units sold on a six- month basis calculated every January 1 and July 1.
"Discontinued items" shall mean those product identification numbers that the board has voted to delist at a public meeting.
"Limited purchase items" shall mean those product identification numbers that the board purchases on either a one- time or nonrecurring basis due to the product's limited availability or finite allocation.
"Product identification number" shall mean the stock keeping unit (SKU) or a successor method of identifying specific products.
(c) To determine the municipalities within which Pennsylvania Liquor Stores shall be established and the locations of the stores within such municipalities.(d) To grant and issue all licenses and to grant, issue, suspend and revoke all permits authorized to be issued under this act.(e) Through the Department of General Services as agent, to lease and furnish and equip such buildings, rooms and other accommodations as shall be required for the operation of this act.(f) To appoint, fix the compensation and define the powers and duties of such managers, officers, inspectors, examiners, clerks and other employes as shall be required for the operation of this act, subject to the provisions of The Administrative Code of 1929 and the Civil Service Act. (g) To determine the nature, form and capacity of all packages and original containers to be used for containing liquor, alcohol or malt or brewed beverages.(h) Without in any way limiting or being limited by the foregoing, to do all such things and perform all such acts as are deemed necessary or advisable for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act and the regulations made thereunder.(i) From time to time, to make such regulations not inconsistent with this act as it may deem necessary for the efficient administration of this act. The board shall cause such regulations to be published and disseminated throughout the Commonwealth in such manner as it shall deem necessary and advisable or as may be provided by law. Such regulations adopted by the board shall have the same force as if they formed a part of this act.(j) By regulation, to provide for the use of a computerized referral system to assist consumers in locating special items at Pennsylvania Liquor Stores and for the use of electronic transfer of funds and credit cards for the purchase of liquor and alcohol at Pennsylvania Liquor Stores.(k) To issue grants to various entities for alcohol education and prevention efforts. (l) To be licensed as a lottery sales agent as set forth in section 305 of the Act of August 26, 1971 (P.L.351, No.91), known as the "State Lottery Law," and to take any actions authorized by such designation except that no bond, insurance or indemnification may be required from the board. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the board may pay the holder of a winning ticket up to an amount that shall be established jointly by the board and the Department of Revenue. All proceeds retained by the board as compensation for the sale of tickets, including incentive awards or bonuses, as well as credit for direct payment of prizes, shall be deposited into the general fund. (m) The following shall apply: (1) Notwithstanding subsection (b), the board may establish and implement a customer relations management program for the purpose of offering incentives, such as coupons or discounts on certain products, to unlicensed customers of the board.(2) The names and addresses of individual consumers who participate in a customer relations management program or purchase products from the board, as well as any records or information that would disclose the personal purchase choices of individual consumers, shall not be sold or otherwise made available to the public under any circumstances, including in response to a request made in accordance with the act of February 14, 2008 ( P.L. 6, No.3), known as the "Right-to-Know Law."(n) Notwithstanding the act of December 20, 2015 (P.L.497, No.90), known as the Taxpayer-Funded Advertising Transparency Act, any expenditure for media advertising made by the board shall not be subject to any requirement that the media advertising include any statement identifying the fund from which the expenditure was made, nor any statement that the media advertising was paid for with Pennsylvania taxpayer dollars. Amended by P.L. TBD 2016 No. 166, § 2, eff. 1/14/2017.Amended by P.L. TBD 2016 No. 39, § 2, eff. 8/7/2016.1951, April 12, P.L. 90, art. II, § 207. Amended 1952, Jan. 14 (1951), P.L. 1863, § 1; 1956, May 25, P.L. (1955) 1743, § 1; 1966, Jan. 13, P.L. (1965) 1301, § 1; 1971, June 17, P.L. 180, No. 22, § 1, effective in 90 days; 1973 July 27, P.L. 247, No. 70, § 1, imd. effective. Reenacted and amended 1987, June 29, P.L. 32, No. 14, § 10, effective 7/1/1987. Amended 2002, Feb. 21, P.L. 103, No. 10, § 2, effective in 60 days; 2003, Dec. 30, P.L. 423, No. 59, § 2, imd. effective; 2004, Nov. 30, P.L. 1727, No. 221, § 1, imd. effective; 2004, Dec. 8, P.L. 1810, No. 239, § 2, imd. effective.