Senator James Skoufis (D-Cornwall) joined with the Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association and Orange County Tavern and Restaurant Association at The Golden Rail Ale House in Newburgh to announce the inclusion of reforms Skoufis has long-championed to the state’s prohibition-era alcohol and beverage control laws. Chief among the changes would allow bars and restaurants to make purchases directly from liquor stores - rather than distributors - of up to 12 individual bottles per week.
Restaurants and bars have long advocated for this reform that their state association estimates would save their small businesses $5,000 to $10,000 per year from surcharges imposed by large distributors. Additional reforms sponsored by Skoufis that were included in the Senate’s recent budget proposal include: allowing cideries to ship directly to consumers, similar to the existing opportunity provided to wineries; permanently extending the soon-to-expire ability for establishments to receive temporary liquor permits while waiting for a full liquor license application to be approved; and providing additional funds to the State Liquor Authority to address the enormous backlog of 6,000 license applications.
“We should be doing anything and everything in our legislative capacity to ensure that small business owners get the support they need,” said Skoufis, “Restaurants and taverns are critical to our communities’ economic vitality and these important proposals allow business owners to serve their customers in a timely and cost-effective manner. I am grateful for the work of the state and county Restaurant and Tavern Associations, and will continue to fight for their priorities.”
“The state’s small restaurants and taverns will be able to breathe a sigh of relief if the reforms to the Alcoholic Beverage Control championed by Senator Skoufis and the Senate Majority are part of the final enacted budget,” said Scott Wexler, Executive Director of the Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association. “The proposal to allow restaurants and taverns to purchase 12 bottles of liquor and wine each week from a liquor store will allow our members to avoid the exorbitant split case fees and delivery charges small operators are subjected to by the large liquor wholesalers that are functional monopolies. This proposal wouldn’t have made the Senate budget proposal without the dogged advocacy of Senator James Skoufis. The Senator understands how the liquor wholesalers use their market power to impose untenable terms on small businesses and has fought to restore some balance for our members for years.”
“On behalf of the Orange County Tavern and Restaurant Association (OCTRA),” said Tommy O’Toole, OCTRA President and owner of O’Toole’s Pub in Monroe, “we would like to thank Senator Skoufis for his commitment to meaningful reform that will help not only the taverns and restaurants of Orange County, but throughout NY state.”
The Senate’s budget blueprint was adopted last week; the final state budget is due on April 1. In addition to the reforms included in the Senate’s proposal, Skoufis supports additional reforms such as making the popular cocktails-to-go authorization permanent which is otherwise due to expire in mid-2025 as well as allowing liquor stores to sell drink-related products such as tonic water, bitters, and cherries.