Philadelphia House Delegation applauds the work of the Stop and Go Legislative Task Force

Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus    October 2, 2024 | 3:34 PM

HARRISBURG, Oct. 2 – The Philadelphia House Delegation today applauded the efforts of the Stop and Go Legislative Task Force as they released their final report and recommendations.

The task force was charged with suggesting remedies to quality-of-life issues in communities surrounding nuisance establishments. The group studied existing laws, toured impacted neighborhoods and establishments, and held public hearings to receive testimony to inform their work.

Delegation Chairwoman Rep. Morgan Cephas, D-Phila., said the delegation has been anxiously awaiting this report as its members deal with these complaints regularly.  

“Stop-and-gos have been a scourge on the quality-of-life in our city for years, spoiling commercial corridors and ruining residential neighborhoods. I’m thankful for the earnestly invested time and effort of this task force to tackling this problem and for their statewide vision in their report. I look forward to turning these recommendations into tangible legislation and working with all stakeholders to once and for all eliminate these nuisances from our communities.”

The final report of the task force outlines eight recommendations to the General Assembly as guidelines for legislative remedies to regulate stop-and-gos, including streamlining processes, strengthening citations and penalties, and increasing process awareness and recruitment of liquor control agents for enhanced enforcement.

State Rep. Anthony Bellmon, D-Phila., was the House Democratic appointee to the Stop and Go Legislative Task Force. He said he is proud of what they were able to accomplish.

“The work of this group was an eye-opening experience for me to learn in-depth about the processes involved in licensing and grievance filing, and to hear directly from impacted Philadelphians about their issues,” Bellmon said. “Our study centered on Philadelphia, but our recommendations were designed with the ability to be applied across the state. I’m proud of the work that we accomplished and I’m hopeful that we’ll soon be able to go back to those neighborhoods to let them know that we’ve been successful in regulating and eliminating stop-and-gos from their community.”

The Stop and Go Legislative Task Force was created through Act 49 of 2023 and began their work in earnest in 2024 to produce a report with recommendations for regulations within Philadelphia. This task force was comprised of members of the state House and Senate, an appointee of the governor and an ex-officio member of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and was tasked with addressing issues around stop-and-go establishments in Philadelphia.

The full report can be viewed online.