HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Debate got underway in the Legislature on Tuesday, the last day of Pennsylvania state government's fiscal year, with lawmakers poised to make final votes on a state budget plan and other major Republican-crafted bills that appeared destined for a veto by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

After an hour of debate, the Senate passed a bill to license private companies to take over the marketing, shipment and sale of wine and liquor from the state. The vote was 27-22, giving Senate Republicans a victory on a bill they had tried, but failed, to pass the two previous Junes amid the pressure of budget negotiations.

Every Democrat in the Republican-controlled chamber voted "no." The House was expected to pass the wine and liquor bill later Tuesday. Meanwhile, the House began debating a GOP bill to end the traditional pension benefit in Pennsylvania's two major public employee retirement systems.

Including the main budget bill, all three could be on the desk of Wolf by Tuesday night, but he has warned he was likely to veto the budget and opposes the GOP's pension and liquor measures.

Before the debates began, Wolf met with House GOP leaders Tuesday morning and said that both sides "will have some things to talk about tomorrow." The state's new fiscal year begins at midnight.

Republicans argue they have a budget that is in balance and spends more for education without raising taxes. Wolf has said the $30.2 billion spending plan shortchanges public schools, lets the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry off the hook without a severance tax and adds to the deficit. Wolf, who is seeking a multibillion-dollar tax increase to accomplish his fiscal goals, also wants legislation to local school property taxes statewide.

The budget bill was expected to be debated later in the day. If Wolf vetoes it in total, it would be the first time that has occurred in the state in at least four decades. It would cause the state to lose some of its authority to spend money. He could also exercise line-item veto authority.

The liquor privatization plan would allow about 14,000 beer-sales license holders - retailers, restaurants, grocery stores and others - to pay a higher fee for permission to also sell wine, liquor or both. It would also provide a pathway to the closure of the approximately 600 state-controlled wine and liquor stores.

"It gives people of Pennsylvania what they want. It gets the state out of the liquor business once and for all," Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said during floor debate. "This legislation also would go a long way toward easing our archaic liquor laws and giving Pennsylvania consumers the convenience they crave."

Democrats shot back that the plan would irresponsibly liquidate a valuable state money maker for virtually nothing.

"The last thing you do with an asset of this size, of this magnitude, of this wealth, of this value is get rid of it willy-nilly as is proposed in this legislation," said Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia. "Hershey's controls chocolate, they don't get rid of that asset. ExxonMobil controls the oil, they don't willy-nilly get rid of that asset."

During House debate on the pension bill, Republican backers said the current system is not sustainable for taxpayers. The bill's major feature would pour most new hires into a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan, and it would save about $11 billion in payments over 30 years on a pension debt currently estimated at $53 billion. Lawmakers also would go into the 401(k)-style plan after their next election.

"It's only going to start getting better when we manage by the numbers and we do what's right for everyone in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania," said Rep. Mike Tobash, R-Schuylkill. "It's simple: we have a huge debt, you need to take action."

But Democrats said the proposal would take away retirement security for future state government and public school employees.

Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Allegheny, called it "an attack on the working folks in this state. It's an attack on our state employees. It's a bill that will rip off hard-working folks of their hard-earned pensions."

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Associated Press reporter Peter Jackson contributed to this report.