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Moving New York out of the 17th Century: A Proposal to Reform Wine and Liquor Laws
July 29th, 2009
by State Senator Liz Krueger
Blue Laws imposing stringent restrictions on how and when alcohol could be sold in New York State predate the American Revolution by a century. Yet many of these laws still exist, restored after the end of prohibition in 1933, and they continue to have a negative impact on small businesses, wineries and consumers. Originally established to support a particular version of morality, to modern eyes blue laws appear mainly to function to restrain trade and limit choice.
Especially in this period of economic readjustment, it is critical that the State examine whether the legal remnants of our colonial past are helping or hurting the business climate in the state, and where necessary to update our laws to reflect realities of the 21st century.
Working with Assemblymember Joseph Morelle, I have developed The Wine Industry and Liquor Store Revitalization Act (S5787/A8632) that reforms the rules for wine and liquor sales for off-premises consumption. Current law reduces consumer choice by imposing limits on access to wine found in few other states. It hurts New York’s growing wine industry by making it harder for them to market their products. And it hurts small businesses – both grocery stores AND liquor stores -- by imposing convoluted rules about who can sell what, and limiting the ability of existing businesses to grow or compete.
During this year’s budget process, this issue came up, but was primarily discussed in relation to allowing wine sales in grocery stores. I supported this goal, but was also sympathetic to the concerns of liquor stores about unfair competition, because of the ridiculous rules that they faced as to what they could sell. Under current law a liquor store can sell a bottle of wine but not a gift basket, soda, or any food products. Liquor store owners can’t own more than one store, nor can they form buying pools like food stores to increase their negotiating power with their distributors. These rules serve to limit opportunities for liquor store owners, making their concern about protecting their exclusive rights to sell wine, one of the few products they were allowed to sell, very understandable.
The discussions I had during the budget process led me to the conclusion that there were solutions that could address problems for all the players, and that those solutions had to involve confronting the Blue Laws head on. The state had already started this process a few years ago when we passed legislation allowing liquor stores to be open on Sunday, but that was only a small step in addressing the irrationality of our current laws.
The legislation Assemblymember Morelle and I have now introduced takes on the various anti-competitive aspects of our liquor law. Among its key provisions:
- Allows liquor stores to sell items complementary to their business, gift baskets, mixers and sodas, and food products;
- Allows liquor stores to sell directly to restaurants and other retailers;
- Expands legal operating hours for liquor stores;
- Allows liquor stores to form cooperatives for joint purchasing, which will create opportunities to take advantage of volume discounts;
- Allows liquor store owners to operate more than one store;
- Creates a medallion system enabling liquor store owners to auction off their existing licenses to the highest bidder;
- Allows grocery stores and drug stores to sell wine for off premises consumption.
If New York is going to have a vibrant economy, it has to find ways to support local businesses. Grocery stores and liquor stores are the quintessential local business, providing jobs and contributing to the economic stability of the community. New York wineries are a growing part of the agriculture industry in our state. The legislature has the opportunity to remove barriers to the success of all these small businesses and level the playing field by repealing outdated Blue Laws.
5 Responses to “Moving New York out of the 17th Century: A Proposal to Reform Wine and Liquor Laws”
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July 31st, 2009 at 06:28 PM About time. People can get porn 24/7, but not a decent bottle of wine to bring to dinner without making a hike to a liquor store. It is ridiculous.
August 1st, 2009 at 09:35 AM How much money did Wegman's give you and the assemblyman? Keep it up and you will find much support for your opponent when you're up for re-election.
August 1st, 2009 at 02:54 PM This latest attempt at feeding the needs of Whole Foods, Wegmans and a handful of other large businesses that want to squeeze the life out of the last real independent stores around ought not be allowed to make it out of the gate. Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblyman Morelle are respected members of their respective houses, responsible for some of the most sensible legislation around. This legislation, however, is not their product. Instead is written by Albany lobbyists (and yes, I have names -- they were bragging about it) on behalf of their powerful, wealthy and relentless clients. Allowing liquor stores to sell related groceries items should not be a trade off for putting wine in grocery stores. It's common sense. It should just happen -- no quid pro quo. Extending the hours of liquor stores is no favor either. These are truly (by law, by design and in practice with few exceptions (are you listening Wegmans?)) Mom and Pop operations. More hours of operation means more hours of work, often times into the less safe parts of a night for those Moms and Pops. Besides, I suspect these folks would rather spend their limited available time now doing more of what they do: supporting our communities, sponsoring little leagues, community events, volunteer fire companies and so much more. The medallion idea assumes that a liquor store that just lost fifty percent of its foot traffic is worth something in a marketplace. Is that a serious idea? It's about as good an idea as Governor Paterson's pledge last year to allow for the installation of ATMs in liquor stores. It really needs to be rethought. Cooperative buying and direct sales to restaurants also makes sense. It is doubtful that the corner liquor store or the local wine shop could seriously compete with the wholesale industry that already does those things, but it provides somewhat more of a level playing field. The bottom line is this: what values are we seeking to advance here? This latest proposal that Liz Krueger did little more than put her name on does not advance our values one iota. Instead, it serves to further disintegrate our society by essentially favoring and then forcing big retail to take still another bite of the small business apple. Folks, go back to the drawing board and Cheers!
August 1st, 2009 at 10:06 PM Wonderful legislation proposed from two Democratic elected officials supposedly "fighting for the middle class". These very same proposals were flung around early this year and they were shown, by and large (and in the opinion of most new yorkers), that they were GARBAGE, i.e. an attempt by big business to further reduce competition and enlarge their monopoly on sales of all goods. Small Wine and Liquor store owners all went through a very expensive and extensive "vetting" process in getting approval to open and sell wine and liquor. They established their businesses through alot of time, money and hard work, on the assurance that they would compete with other liquor stores, not Walmart. To take away half of these small middle class owners' business and give it to interstate conglomerates is another example of what is wrong with America today, and trust me, voters won't forget it came from you two.
August 2nd, 2009 at 12:28 PM Morelle, why don't you just tell everyone that Wegmans is from Rochester, and you love each other, and he probably gives you big bucks, so that you can screw the little guys. You are a hypocrite, claiming to know small business and what small business needs. Too bad they didn't get you back in the 90's.