The timing could be coincidental, but it also could signal the launch of a great legislative compromise between Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, announced Tuesday a liquor privatization bill will be voted in the last week in February, two years after the House passed a similar measure that subsequently died in the Senate.

On Wednesday, Wolf outlined a forthcoming proposal to increase taxes on Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry to help boost aid to public schools. Speaking Wednesday at an elementary school in Chester County, Wolf took steps toward his campaign pledge to impose a 5 percent extraction tax to help wipe out cuts in public school aid under his predecessor, Republican Tom Corbett.

Pennsylvania currently levies a per-well impact fee on natural gas wells, which critics say is the same as a 1 or 2 percent tax rate — among the lowest imposed by major natural gas producing states. About 60 percent of that money goes to local governments in drilling regions.

Meanwhile, Rep. Reed said Tuesday — at a news conference the Harrisburg media described as “impromptu” — that the privatization legislation would be a virtual copy of the one passed by House Republicans two years ago before it died in the Senate. He said the full-scale sell-off of the state-run alcoholic beverage monopoly could raise $1 billion toward the anticipated budget deficit of more $2 billion.

Reed said the legislation could generate about $1 billion to help balance the 2015-16 state budget. The final product, he said, will need to be something that compares favorably with consumer convenience found in other states.

When Wolf unseated incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett in November, Reed and other leaders in the Republican-controlled House and Senate speculated that legislative deals could get done. Some went so far as to suggest a specific deal: liquor privatization in exchange for a gas severance tax.

All it would take is a spirit of compromise.

Well, we have arrived at the crossroads of that compromise. A deal would seem to make sense.

Privatization would divest the state of its liquor monopoly, provide a badly needed influx of revenue without raising taxes, and instill competition which, in theory, would enhance service and moderate prices.

A gas extraction tax would restore education funding during a period when falling energy prices would make the imposition barely noticeable to the public. It would put Pennsylvania on a more even footing with other states that are prospering amid the Marcellus Shale gas and oil boom.

Both proposals would add revenue to the state coffers without any increase in income or property taxes — a point that will play well with most Pennsylvanians.

And the preliminary verbal salvos hint at a spirit of compromise.

“We view this as a starting point,” Reed said of the privatization bill. “We understand it’s not an ending point.”

“Gov. Wolf does not support the privatization,” Wolf’s press secretary Jeff Sheridan said. “However, the governor looks forward to working with members of the legislature to vastly improve the system to give consumers more options and make sales more convenient.”

The issue may boil down simply to this: Does the governor desire the extraction tax enough to give in on liquor privatization? Does the Legislature desire privatization enough to give in on the gas extraction tax?

The answer to this two-headed question could set the table for a very productive term for Gov. Wolf; or it could set the stage for another disappointing term of political gridlock.

It would be satisfying to witness the former, if only for a change from the frustrating status quo.