New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state legislative leaders agreed to allow alcohol to be sold earlier on Sundays, broaden retail sales by producers and reduce fees for wineries, distilleries, breweries and cideries statewide.
“We’ve worked hard to cut red tape, lower costs and roll back burdensome regulations to help New York’s craft beverage industry thrive and create jobs, as well as some of the best beer, wine, cider and distilled spirits in the world,” Governor Cuomo said. “This agreement to overhaul this state’s archaic blue laws will build upon these ongoing efforts by knocking down artificial barriers for restaurants and small businesses and helping this industry grow even stronger.”
Major provisions of the agreement include:
- Expand Sunday Sales: The ABC Law includes provisions strictly prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages on-premise before noon on Sunday. The agreement expands Sunday sales at restaurants and bars by changing the statewide opening hours from noon to 10 am. In addition, the agreement enables these licensees to apply for a permit, limited to twelve per year, to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises on Sundays between 8 a.m. and the new 10 a.m. opening hour in areas outside New York City.
- Eliminate Burdensome Paperwork Requirements for Craft Manufacturers: At the 2012 Wine, Beer and Spirits Summit, Governor Cuomo ended the State Liquor Authority’s policy prohibiting multiple manufacturing licenses at the same location, recognizing the additional burdens this placed, for example, on a small winery that wanted to also make whiskey – including building a separate facility. However, businesses holding multiple licenses must still file paperwork and renewals for each separate license. The agreement combines craft manufacturing licenses into one application to reduce burdensome paperwork for these small businesses.
- Authorize the Sale of Wine in Growlers: Current law requires that wine sold at retail for off-premises consumption be kept in their original sealed containers, and consequently, New York wineries are prohibited from filling growlers. This prohibition unduly burdens wineries that can open a container to sell wine for on-premises consumption, or can sell wine for off-premises consumption, but cannot fill a growler to be taken away from the winery. The agreement enacts a common sense change to the law to allow wineries to fill their customer’s growlers. In addition, the agreement authorizes wineries and farm wineries to allow customers to take home partially finished bottles of wine.
- Reduce Fees for Craft Beverage Salespeople: The ABC Law currently requires that any salesperson or solicitor employed by a manufacturer or wholesaler must obtain a solicitor’s permit in addition to a bond. Recognizing the financial hardship imposed by these unnecessary additional fees, the agreement eliminates the fee for a solicitor’s permit for craft manufacturers and removes the bond requirement for all manufacturers.
- Reduced Fees for Small Wholesalers: The primary business of most alcohol beverage wholesalers is selling their products to licensed retailers, such as bars, restaurants and liquor stores. However, there are currently a number of small wholesalers in New York that sell limited number of brands they import directly to large wholesalers for distribution to retailers. Under the current law, these small wholesalers must pay the same amount for their license as their larger counterparts, with costs ranging from $1,460 for a one year beer license to $27,280 for a three year liquor wholesale license. This financial burden often requires these small businesses to make a choice between continuing to hold a New York wholesale license or to relocate their business outside of New York. The agreement amends the ABC Law to create a low-cost “importer’s license” that would be available to wholesalers that sell only to other wholesalers.
- Authorize Gift Wrapping: The agreement allows liquor stores to sell gift wrapping and gift bags to their customers.
Legislation to amend the ABC Law was first proposed by Governor Cuomo in May as a direct result of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law Working Group – a blue ribbon panel created by Governor Cuomo in November 2015 tasked with developing recommendations to modernize the laws governing the manufacturing, wholesale and retail of alcoholic beverages in New York State.
Since 2011, New York State has implemented a number of significant reforms and expanded programs to grow the craft beverage industry, including creating new farm-based manufacturing licenses, launching a $60 million statewide promotional campaign and hosting wine, beer and spirits summits across the state.
The number of farm wineries in New York has increased by nearly 60%, to 310 today from 195 in 2010. Additionally, the number of microbreweries has grown by 263%, to 145 from 40 in 2010, while the number of farm distilleries grew to 90 today from just 10 in 2010. Two new licenses have been created since 2011: the farm brewery license in 2013 and the farm cidery license in 2014, with New York now home to 120 farm breweries and 21 farm cideries businesses.