HARRISBURG — Six of the seven state House members who represent Butler County voted Thursday to privatize much of the state-controlled wine and liquor store system.

The proposal, which also would liberalize beer sales laws, passed the Republican-controlled House, 114 to 87, over the objection of every Democrat and four Republicans.

Leaders of the Senate Republican majority are noncommittal about the measure, and it faces a veto by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who favors keeping the state system and trying to make it more profitable.

Here’s what state lawmakers from the county had to say:

Rep. Brian Ellis, 11th District, said, “This plan is good for consumer convenience. I’ve heard time and time again that consumers want to be like the other 48 states that have turned the power over to the private sector.

“Poll after poll states that the public supports getting the state out of the liquor business. Under this plan, the number of places where consumers can purchase wine and spirits will double.”

Under the proposal, private wholesalers, not the state, would market products to retailers, and about 2,500 wine or liquor outlets could replace all but 100 of the 600 state-controlled stores.

A similar bill passed the House in 2013, but it died in the Senate.

Rep. Lee James, 64th District, said, “State government has many important functions that it must fulfill. Selling wine and liquor is not a core function of state government. We should follow the example of the 48 other states that have privatized alcohol sales.”

Rep. Tedd Nesbit, 8th District, said, “The commonwealth should not be in the business of both regulating and selling alcohol, which is an inherent conflict of interest, and this legislation puts the sale of this product in the hands of those who do business best — the private sector.”

Republicans Daryl Metcalfe, 12th District; Jim Marshall, 14th District, and Jeff Pyle, 60th District, also backed the bill.

House GOP leaders are expected to make the legislation a key bargaining chip in June, when Wolf and the Senate will look for House approval of their top priorities during budget negotiations.

Critics of the bill said the state government and its programs will take a long-term financial hit from losing control of wine and liquor purchases. Small businesses that sell beer will suffer and many of the state system’s 4,300 store employees will lose their jobs, they said.

The only beneficiary, they said, will be the large wholesalers and retailers that have lobbied heavily on the bill.

Democrat Jaret Gibbons, 10th District, who opposed the bill, said, “This bill does nothing more than create a complex new scheme for alcohol sales that shifts the current revenue going to the state treasury and small businesses who own beer distributors to the bank accounts of large grocery chains and big box stores.

“What we instead need is modernization of the liquor system and package reform for beer sales which will generate additional revenue for the state and provide the consumer choice and better pricing that the public desires from their alcohol shopping experience.”

In backing the bill, Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver, said, “No other consumer product in Pennsylvania is bought and sold by the Pennsylvania government.

“Even controlled substances, dangerous substances like beer, tobacco, bomb-making explosives, OxyContin, even those products are sold by private-sector businesses. Government should not be in the retail business.”

Under the proposal, the state could continue to operate at least 100 stores. Meanwhile, the state could sell up to 1,800 licenses to private retailers to sell wine or liquor, or both, and beer distributors would have the first shot at buying them at a steep discount.

Grocery stores of at least 10,000 square feet would be able to apply for a license to sell wine, but not liquor, with the licenses limited to one per 15,000 people.

The bill’s most lucrative element is licenses for wholesale distributors. Sales of those licenses would reap $615 million, according to a House Republican analysis.

On beer laws, beer distributors, now limited to selling at least a case at a time, would be able to sell six-packs or 12-packs. Restaurants, which now can sell 12-packs of beer for takeout, would be able to sell up to a case.