The following letter was sent from Chuck Moran of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association to all members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives after a floor debate on HB 1500, a bill that would increase the minimum wage above $15 per hour as well as mess with the tipped wage and its structure by setting it at 60 percent of minimum wage.

June 15, 2023

Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,

I watched your floor debate yesterday on HB 1500 with each side pulling studies to support their position. We have likely seen the same studies in my office.

Pennsylvania’s bars and taverns don’t need studies from afar to understand what would happen in our Members’ establishments if the tipped wage be eliminated or changed in any manner. Instead of relying on studies from other states, our Association has used the past few years to sit down and speak with our Members to find out exactly what would happen in their establishments.

Our membership is primarily family-owned (small business) taverns, bars, and licensed restaurants with about 16 employees and less than 100 seats in their establishments. While we can’t speak for the large chains, we do have a good understanding of what the outcome of increasing the tipped minimum wage would be for these establishments, their tipped employees, and their customers.

What worries small business taverns, bars, and licensed restaurants the most isn’t the minimum wage. We regularly hear that bartenders and servers can easily make above the dollar figures that are currently being debated.

What worries our Members the most is messing with the tipped wage and its structure.

As we learned in middle school science classes, for every action, there’s an opposite and equal reaction. Based upon many conversations with establishments across the state, we have every reason to believe that the opposite and equal reaction would be

1. Reduction in workforce. (ie., if a shift usually has four waitresses, that shift could be changed to only three.)
2. Higher menu prices to pass the cost along to consumers.

Establishments taking advantage of the current tipped wage structure to reach the legislatively-created minimum wage figure can charge lower prices on menus, which helps maintain their competitive position and customer base.

Please don’t mess with the current tipped wage and its structure. The opposite and equal reaction just isn’t worth it for employees, employers, or customers.

Sincerely,

Chuck Moran
Executive Director

Today, the Pennsylvania House Liquor Control Committee voted to move HB 1160, a bill sponsored by Rep. Napoleon Nelson, and supported by Organized Taverns via the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association.

The bill addresses issues related to off-premise catering permits and certain regulations that would sunset at the end of 2024, forcing the industry to revert back to outdated liquor code.

After a friendly amendment to the bill, HB 1160 moved out of committee with all voting in favor of the bill.

In this episode, Chuck Moran, executive director of the PLBTA and host of Pennsylvania Tavern Talk, takes you inside the committee meeting and then provides an analysis afterwards.

Please don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and like this video.

The following is a statement from Chuck Moran, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association. The statement concerns HB 1160, a bill related to off-premise catering permits.

(Harrisburg, May 23, 2023) Today, the Pennsylvania House Liquor Control Committee voted to move HB 1160 out of committee. All committee members voted in favor of the measure.

This important legislation, sponsored by Rep. Napoleon Nelson, is another piece of the puzzle to help family-owned taverns, bars, and licensed restaurants, recover from lengthy COVID restrictions that financially damaged many establishments across the Keystone State.

HB 1160 would allow liquor licensees to hold an unlimited number of off-premise catering events beyond 2024. Currently, Act 87 of 2021 sunsets at the end of 2024. If allowed to sunset, the state would revert back to outdated liquor code that limits the number of off-premise catering events. Rep. Nelson’s bill removes the sunset date.

In his co-sponsorship memo Rep. Nelson wrote, “Although the Covid-19 Pandemic emergency is lessening, many of our Pennsylvania restaurants and bars are still struggling during these unstable economic times. New hurdles have appeared with raising costs due to inflation and supply chain issues along with labor shortages. We need to do all we can to help these businesses adapt and remain flexible.”

The Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association, representing small business taverns, bars, and licensed restaurants across the state, agrees with Rep. Nelson and fully supports HB 1160 as written today.

The past decade has been a financially difficult one for family-owned taverns, bars, and licensed restaurants. First, the industry lost the exclusive right to sell six-packs to go, resulting in significant loss of revenue. This was followed by pandemic restrictions that closed indoor dining. Then recovery efforts were hampered by supply chain issues, inflation, and a lack of workers.

Each of these have acted as a gut punch to drinking establishments statewide. The time has come to give these small businesses hope that they can prosper and make it on their own in the future.

The PLBTA thanks Rep. Nelson for introducing this bill. The association also thanks committee chairs Rep. Dan Deasy and Rep. Mindy Fee as well as all members of the state House Liquor Control Committee for their actions today to move HB 1160.

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The Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association is the statewide political voice for small business taverns and licensed restaurants. Based in Harrisburg, the Association formed after Prohibition in 1941, reorganized in 2019, and today advocates for best practices and rights within the industry as well as best experiences for patrons. To learn more, visit www.pataverns.com or follow the Association on Twitter via @TavernPA.

Earlier this year, the PLBTA produced a Tavern Talk news video about this issue and Rep. Nelson’s interest to help. You can watch that video by clicking here.

By Charles B. Calkins, Rebecca M. Shanaman, Evan M. Gabel, and Stephen R. McDonald
CGA Law Firm

Litigation has affected many PLCB licensees with dram shop actions, slip and fall accidents, workers’ compensation claims, etc. The most well-known way to protect assets is to hold the PLCB license under a separate operating company or individual. Another way to protect a business is to use high-quality surveillance cameras. Cameras can be installed in conspicuous places, such as doorways, parking lots, the restaurant seating area, the bar seating area, and possibly outside lavatories.

Many restaurants or social clubs that use surveillance cameras only retain the tapes for one (1) month to sixty (60) days. Given the fact that the statute of limitations in a dram shop action or an action based on negligence is two (2) years, CGA recommends downloading the surveillance footage and retaining it for at least two and a half (2-1/2) to three (3) years. The statute of limitations in a negligence action is two (2) years from the date of the occurrence, so if an individual brings an action one (1) day from the date the statute expires, the typical business that regularly discards tapes would not have the footage to defend their business from a lawsuit or workers’ compensation claim. Also, destruction of tapes or footage may be considered spoliation of evidence, which could be detrimental to the defense of a claim or lawsuit.

Conversely, if a business saved the tapes, the footage could establish how the fall or incident occurred or show that the individual/claimant was not visibly intoxicated. Surveillance tapes should clearly depict faces and images. Clarity of footage is as essential as having cameras in place.

Other suggestions to minimize your exposure would be: (1) provide additional lighting outside and possibly inside the premises; (2) limit the evening hours; and (3) maintain a written list of those patrons who have been barred from the licensed premises. The list should include, at minimum, the first and last name of each person barred, the date the person was barred, and the length of time the person is barred. The exterior lighting should be bright enough to permit patrons to be readily identifiable as they enter and exit the licensed premises.

CGA attorneys are available to discuss these or any other ways to mitigate your exposure to a dram shop action and other PLCB licensing or enforcement issues. The CGA attorneys experienced in licensing, enforcement, and other PLCB and PLCE matters are listed below.

If you have questions about any legal matter related to your restaurant, club, tavern, etc. or an idea you would like addressed in a future article, please contact a CGA attorney.

• Charles B. Calkins, ccalkins@cgalaw.com
• Rebecca M. Shanaman, rshanaman@cgalaw.com
• Evan M. Gabel, egabel@cgalaw.com
• Stephen R. McDonald, smcdonald@cgalaw.com

CGA Law Firm is a preferred vendor of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association. You can learn more about CGA Law Firm by visiting www.cgalaw.com.

S1E6 of Pennsylvania Tavern Talk has been released and covers anticipated legislation that would give drivers from the Keystone State an option to have a digitized driver’s license (DDL). You can watch this video via YouTube by clicking here.

Rep. Dan Miller in a recent cosponsorship memo to his House colleagues wrote, “Under my legislation, PennDOT would develop an app that provides users with a copy (front and back) of their license. It would allow PennDOT to apply a reasonable fee for the download, renewal and updating of the license. The bill will also allow for mobile state ID cards to be created.”

You can read the full cosponsorship memo at by clicking here.

The PLBTA has been intouch with IDScan.net, which says it has equipment to handle digitalized IDs. And, they provide details from each state and their digital ID efforts via this link.

This episode is part of a playlist series (2023-2024 Legislation) that covers bills and cosponsorship memos that would impact Pennsylvania’s mom-and-pop bars, taverns, and licensed restaurants. Pennsylvania Tavern Talk is hosted by Chuck Moran, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association.

Other episodes of Pennsylvania Tavern Talk can be found by visiting YouTube here. Please remember to subscribe to Pennsylvania Tavern Talk.

The PLBTA is the statewide voice for small business bars, taverns, and licensed restaurants. The association was founded in the 1940s, and reorganized in 2019. It is responsible for organizing these establishments on a statewide basis for political purposes.

S1E5 of Pennsylvania Tavern Talk covers anticipated legislation to increase the liquor discount from 10 percent to 15 percent during the 2023-24 legislative cycle.

In a cosponsorship memo from Rep. Melissa Shusterman, she indicates her interest to help struggling Pennsylvania taverns, bars, and licensed restaurants by giving them an extra 5% discount when they purchase their liquor through the state. During the last two-year legislative cycle, a similar bill swept through the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, receiving a 201-0 final vote. However, the bill did not move in the Pennsylvania State Senate.

Today, Pennsylvania’s family-owned — small business — taverns, bars, and licensed restaurants find themselves in a hole that they’ve been put in by inflation, pandemic regulations, legislatively-created competition, and outdated liquor code. A bill like what Rep. Shusterman proposes, particularly if part of a larger package to help the industry, would be a good step in helping these establishments begin to climb out of that hole.

This episode is part of a playlist series (2023-2024 Legislation) that covers bills and sponsorship memos that would impact Pennsylvania’s mom-and-pop bars, taverns, and licensed restaurants.

You can find this episode by clicking here.

To watch other episodes or to subscribe to the channel, click here.

Pennsylania Tavern Talk is hosted by Chuck Moran, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association. The PLBTA is the statewide voice for small business bars, taverns, and licensed restaurants. The association was founded in the 1940s, and reorganized in 2019. The association is responsible for organizing these establishments on a statewide basis for political purposes.

UPDATE … as of mid-May 2023, this is now HB 1174.