Last week Gov. Tom Corbett announced his plans to privatize Pennsylvania liquor stores. 

Under his plan more than 600 liquor stores owned by the state could be shut down. 

Once closed, Corbett said this will allow for 1,200 wine and spirits licenses to be auctioned off.

He said there would be licenses available for retailers, convenience stores and grocery stores. 

Under Gov. Corbett's plan he said that it would bring in $1 billion in revenue. $575 million would come from wholesale licenses, $224 million from the retail auction, $107 million from wine and beer auction and $112.5 million from distributor applications. 

"Those people that favor privatization as I do have one thought in mind: buying beer, wines and spirits in grocery stores. As of now this is not that plan," said Senator Joe Scarnati. 

Scarnati told 6 News he was in the liquor business for 20 years prior to entering the political arena. He said his family was in the business for more than 70 years. After looking at Gov. Corbett's plan to privatize liquor stores he said he is not on board. Scarnati said Corbett's plan is not a full privatization.  

"This necessarily doesn't do that because it puts restrictions on what grocery stores can sell, it puts restrictions on what convenience stores can sell and it does auction licenses. I would challenge anyone that bid on a license in a town that loses money in selling spirits and getting a bank to finance it," he said. 

Scarnati said that Corbett's plan may prove to be effective in big cities, but he worries about places like his district which he considers rural Pennsylvania. 

"The price may be prohibitive, the price may be too great in order to have it in every community," Scarnati said. 

Currently, Pennsylvania and Utah are the only states remaining that have a fully controlled liquor system. 

Corbett said his plan will be more convenient to the consumer, but Scarnati disagrees. 

"You're going to lose accessibility and prices are going to go up. That concerns me because I don't think that anybody here in rural Pennsylvania wants to drive 30 minutes to go to a liquor store or a big box store just to buy their wine and beer," he said.

Gov. Corbett is the first Republican Governor to try and pass a privatization plan since former Gov. Tom Ridge was in office in 1997.