Governor Corbett To Sign Bill Loosening Rules For Happy Hours

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - Governor Tom Corbett is expected to sign a bill now heading to his desk that would allow Pennsylvania bars and restaurants to use their weekly allotment of "Happy Hours" in a more flexible way.

The bill passed by the House and sent to the governor will still limit the total number of Happy Hours to 14 a week, but establishments could now have up to four hours a day instead of only two.

Philadelphia Republican John Taylor, chairman of the House Liquor Control Committee, says, "If you have a Happy Hour during the Eagles game or Monday Night Football, I mean, two hours just doesn't do it for you to keep your audience."

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The bill also allows licensees to sell alcohol when catering events off premises. And it will make selling beer that isn't properly registered a bureaucratic matter, so that the situation that occurred a few years ago, when several Philadelphia bars were raided by state police, doesn't occur again.

Meanwhile, Taylor's committee this week approved a bill that would allow more state stores to be open on Sundays, but he says that measure is not likely to get a full House vote anytime soon.

Reported by Harrisburg Bureau Chief Tony Romeo, KYW Newsradio 1060