Alliance Testifies on SLA and Liquor Laws

Today the NYC Hospitality Alliance was invited by the NYS Senate to testify before their committee about the State Liquor Authority and the Alcohol Beverage Control Law.

Our testimony focused on three timely and urgent issues:  

• Expanding the eligibility of Temporary Liquor Permits - an important law the NYC Hospitality Alliance successfully got passed a couple years ago - to now remove the requirement that a premise was licensed within the past two years to be eligible to for a temporary permit. This will reduce significant hurdles to open a new hospitality business in the city and make thousands of new locations eligible for Temporary Liquor Permits. This would allow these locations to begin serving alcohol, we hope, in about four months, instead of waiting for the official license to begin serving which is currently taking up to a year.  Click here to learn more.

• Making permanent the law we got passed during the pandemic allowing alcohol to be served in roadway dining under the city’s new outdoor dining program, including roadway cafés on the opposite side of a bike lane.

• Making the pandemic-era “cocktails to go” policy permanent as proposed in Governor Hochul’s budget proposal. 

We also expressed our support for other recommendations included in the ABC Commission to Study Reform of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, of which the NYC Hospitality Alliance was a commission member. Our focus and support of those recommendations are those that impact our industry, and that passed unanimously or near unanimously, such as reforming the 200 foot law, 500 foot law, allowing restaurants and bars to purchase from liquor stores in limited quantities, and more. BUT…the first three issues: temporary permits, outdoor dining, and cocktails to go are timely, and the first two are urgent and cannot wait.

As always, the NYC Hospitality Alliance will keep you updated as these matter advance. Thank you for your support!