HERSHEY — A proposal to turn over Pennsylvania’s state-controlled sale of liquor and wine to private business would drive up prices, limit the selection of products and leave many rural residents without a nearby liquor store, critics warned lawmakers.

Joe Conti, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, and Wendell Young IV, president of the union that represents most state-store workers, said changes the board has implemented in the 620 state stores in recent years have made prices more competitive, expanded the selection and enhanced convenience.

“We truly believe that we already accomplish all these things within the current system, while protecting more than 5,000 jobs for our staff and their families,” Conti told members of the House Liquor Control Committee at its second hearing on the plan.

Young, flanked by about 75 state-store employees wearing yellow union T-shirts, said random checks of stores in the six neighboring states revealed many charge more for Pennsylvania’s top-selling brands or do not carry many of them.

The privatization plan “would raise taxes on the most popular and the most affordable brands and it would reduce taxes and costs for more expensive, pricier brands,” said Young, whose Local 1776 of the United Food and Commercial Workers represents 3,500 people.

Conti said a standard state store carries nearly 2,500 types of liquor and wine, and that the board maintains stores in rural areas, even when they are not profitable, as a matter of fairness for consumers.

“The bill cannot force a grocery store to bid for a license,” said Dale Horst, the PLCB’s director of retail operations. “If the PLCB can’t make any money because the sales volume is simply not there, these areas may not be served at all.”

The main privatization plan, sponsored by House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, calls for replacing the state stores with twice as many stores in 750 retail zones around Pennsylvania.

Turzai’s proposal would replace the 18 percent “Johnstown Flood Tax” — originally created in 1936 to help that city recover from a devastating flood — with a per-gallon tax that would range from $8.25 to $12 depending on the type of beverage and its alcohol content. It also would eliminate the state’s 30 percent markup, although wholesalers and retailers are expected to set their own markups in the prospective private system.